A new beginning
by KiraLover4ever
Summary: Broken and close to death Naruto is at the end of his rope, but what if a furry friend gives him a second chance?
1. Proloque

'We were always told that we could handle everything if we had those we loved beside us. That we could overcome anything, if only we worked as a team. Until 2 years ago I thought it was true, but now I've seen how the world really works, I know it's a lie. We were with thousands. Enemy's, friends, loved ones, we all fought together. And we didn't fight because we had to, we fought because we wanted to. We wanted to protect our home, our families, our lives. But no matter how strong we were, the enemy was always stronger. One by one we fell, until there was only a hand full of us left. By that point, we knew we couldn't win. But even though we knew that, we didn't stop fighting. It was unbearable to give up now. We didn't want everybody's deaths to be in vein. So we fought. Days past by until finally I was the only one left alive.'


	2. Back in time

I know I haven't finished my other story yet, but I kinda am at a dead end eith that one.

I found this story on my computer and I've decided to finish it.

Have fun reading!

Disclaimer: I'm only going to say this once, I don't own anyone except for the foxes.

* * *

><p>Naruto coughed as the air cleared up a bit. The explosion had been huge and had burned everything in its path. The blonde struggled to get to his feet and began to look around. But what he saw, crushed the little hope he still had. Bodies covered the ground, there was no movement at all. He couldn't feel any chakra besides his own and that of his enemy. With wide eyes he fell to his hands and knees.<p>

"I.. failed.."

His eyes became blank as tears ran down his face. "It's over… we lost.." 'Naruto.' "Kurama, the plan… it didn't work.." 'Naruto, do you trust me?' Naruto looked confused at the fox's words.

"What do you mean?" 'I can solve this, but only if you trust me.' To shocked to say anything Naruto just stared in front of him. 'It's now or never, Naruto!'

Naruto became from shock and shook his head a little, only to look up to Kurama. His voice had lost every charming sound when he spoke up.

"Whatever it is you're thinking. Do it. I don't care anymore. I've lost everything already, there's no way it can get worse, so yes.. I trust you."

Kurama looked sad down at him. 'Everything is going to be okay, I'll take care of it.' The fox closed his eyes and concentrated all his chakra to one point. Naruto felt a sudden power reaching for him. For a second he fought against it, but he gladly welcomed it as he identified the power. It was Kurama's chakra.

'Sleep Naruto, everything will be better when you wake up.' Naruto listend and closed his eyes as darkness overtook him.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"A peace treaty?!" screamed an old man angry. "They've killed hundreds of us, how can you offer them a peace treaty?!"

"Don't you have seen enough deaths, Danzo?" asked another.

The man named Danzo turned around and began to walk to the door. With the knob in his hand he stopped for a moment. "You're weak, Sarutobi. You'll regret this decision, believe my words."

After saying that he opened the door and walked out of the room. Sarutobi sighed. 'What am I going to do with him?' He reached for a pile of papers when suddenly a bright light lit the room. After a couple of seconds it slowly faded and Sarutobi looked around. An expression of confusion and shook could be seen on his face as he stared at a figure on the ground. Slowly he walked to the person and turned him around to look at his face. He was shocked to find out that the young man on his floor looked exactly like Minato Namikaze, the yellow flash of the hidden leaf.

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Naruto woke up with the worst headache he'd ever had in his whole life. "Damnit Kurama, is this how you repay me when I say I trust you." A big silence fell. 'He's probably sleeping.' Thought Naruto.

He began to look around and noticed that he was tight up in a chair in a small dark room, though he couldn't see the ceiling. 'Where am I?' At that moment a small door opened and a beam of light appeared only to disappear again when the door closed. Naruto turned his head, looking cautious at the person who came in.

"I see that you're finally awake." Naruto's eyes widened in shock as he recognized the person's voice. Slowly he shook his head and looked at the ground. 'Whatever kind of joke this is, I'm not going to believe any of this.'

"Who are you?" asked the person, taking a step closer to Naruto.

"How dare you impersonate him." Hissed Naruto through clenched teeth. His voice full of anger and disgust.

"What do you mean?"

"The third was a hero, you have no right to take on his appearance."

The man laughed. "I'm glad you see me as a hero, but I don't understand why you think that I'm an impersonator. I assure you I'm the third hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi."

"You're lying, Hiruzen Sarutobi has been dead for five years. There's no way you could be him."

Sarutobi frowned and took a good look at Naruto. "What's your name?" he asked suddenly.

Naruto, a bit surprised by the question, frowned too. "You're really stupid if you think that I'm going to give my name to you."

Sarutobi sighed. "You still don't believe me." "Of course I don't be-"

'He's real, Naruto.' 'What do you mean he's real?' Kurama sighed. 'I send us to the past. Although I don't know how many years in the past, this is the real Sarutobi. He's really the third hokage. Now let me sleep!'

Naruto sat in the chair, frozen. Slowly he looked at Sarutobi. "The hokage mountain." The third looked at him uncomprehendingly. "How many heads are there?" "Three, why do you want to know?"

Naruto's eyes widened as he didn't move a muscle. "Three…? No way… that's… impossible.."

In panic Naruto began to move in his chair, trying to get free. "You damn flea bag! If you think I'm going to get through that for a second time, you're wrong!"

Without thinking, Naruto had screamed it out loud. He stopped moving when he realized this and saw Sarutobi looking at him like he was crazy. And only then he seemed to realize it.

'Wait a minute. I'm stronger then I was before. I can change things!'

Naruto began to grin like an idiot as his eyes locked onto the old man.

"All right, this is going to sound crazy and you're going to think I'm an idiot, but what I'm going to tell is the truth." His expression changed into a serious one. "My name's Naruto Namikaze and I'm from the future."

Sarutobi was beyond shocked. From all the explanations, this one wasn't even on the list. For a moment he wanted to laugh, but something in the boys eyes made him believe the story.

Naruto closed his eyes. "At first I didn't believe it. I thought you were an impersonator, but if there are only three heads on the kage mountain, there's no way I can't believe it."

He opened his eyes again.

"As there are only three heads, it means that my father hasn't been named hokage yet." The boy's last name didn't go unnoticed by the third hokage, and he really was a spitting image of Minato, except for the whisker like markings on his cheeks.

"So let's say, what if you really are the son of Minato and Kushina and on top of that a time traveler, how and why did you do it?"

Naruto froze as a wave of emotions ran down his face. "I… I'm the host of the kyuubi." He looked to the ground. "My timeline… there wasn't anything left. Kurama knew a way out, so I took it."

"Kurama?"

"It's the ninetales name."

Sarutobi didn't know what was a bigger shock. That the tailed beasts had names, or that this boy in front of him had befriended a tailed beast enough to know his name.

"Can I trust you?" Naruto nodded.

"All right then, Naruto. Let's cut you lose and talk further in my office.

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Naruto stood before the thirds desk and looked around. It had been a long time since he had seen the small office and he smiled as he noticed the picture of the former kage's hanging on the wall. The third had sent al the anbu away and had activated privacy seals, so they could talk privately.

"Naruto."

Naruto turned his head and looked at Sarutobi. His sight softened at the sight of the old man sitting behind his desk. He couldn't help feeling like this, it just seemed so right.

"Can you tell me a bit about your timeline?" The blond clenched his fists as he looked away. "I'd rather not. I never want to go through that again, nor remember it."

"Is it that bad?" Naruto just nodded.

Sarutobi changed how he sat and nodded understandingly. "All right, then there's one more thing I need to know before you can go."

Naruto looked up, his cerulean eyes filled with surprise. "Does this mean that you believe me?"

"Yes and no. I can tell that you're not a spy, you're to obvious for that. As for your story, I'll stay open minded with that. Now tell me, what rank are you?"

A bit happier now Naruto answered immediatly. "I don't really have one." "What do you mean?" "Well, technically I'm still a ganin. So much has been happening, so I haven't been able to take the exams. I know that I'm at least kage level."

Sarutobi's eyes widened in shock. 'Is he really this strong?' "I see. I think it'll be a good idea to have you tested by someone. That way we can give you an official rank. And I think I know just the opponent. Of course it speaks for itself that you can't tell anyone about your origin. From here on out you'll go by the name Akio Furakawa. You've been on a long mission in one of the outer villages as anbu Kitsune. And it'll be wise if you set up a henge, it would be too hard to explain why there's a second Minato running around the village."

Naruto smiled and stared at Sarutobi. "Is there something on my face?" said man asked.

Naruto's smile got wider. "No, I'm just happy to see you again, old man."


	3. Dead people and topics

Why are we hear again?"

Asked a sleepy voice. It was late in the evening, but still warm, a good time to take a small nap.

"We're here because Kakashi has to test someone, Obito. Sensei told you that, didn't he?"

Obito scratched behind his head as he tried to remember it. "I'm sorry Rin, I just forgot. When I heard Kakashi was going to do the test for jonin, I kind of got destracted."

Rin laid understandingly a hand on his arm what gave him the courage to continue. "I just don't get it. How can a heartless robot like him become a jonin. He's always talking about those stupid rules."

Rin gave him a soft squeeze. "Don't worry about it Obito. After all, you're going to do the test to next year, right?"

Obito brightened up and smiled. "Yes!" He began to look around. "By the way, where is Kakashi?"

Rin raised her shoulders and Obito sighed. "Some jonin he's going to be. He's always telling me that I should be on time and now he's the one who's late."

"At least I_ am_ going to be a jonin." Said a voice behind them.

Rin and Obito turned around only to see Kakashi and their sensei looking at them. Obito was going to yell at Kakashi, but got interrupted by Rin. "Where were you Sensei?"

Minato smiled. "I was giving Kakashi some advice about the upcoming match. It seems like this ninja was in anbu a couple of years."

"An anbu? Why is an anbu going to be tested?" Rin waited patiently for an answer.

"I think that lord hokage has his reasons for that." Answered Minato.

"Here they come." Stated Kakashi as bored as he could, he wasn't impressed.

"Ahh Minato, you've brought the whole team."

Minato smiled. "Yeah, I thought that it'd be a good experience, after all, it's not everyday you can watch an anbu fight up close."

Sarutobi nodded. "Of course, yes. Now, Kakashi, meet your opponent. Akio Furakawa. Akio, this is Kakashi Hatake, he's going to test you." When Sarutobi didn't hear a greeting from Akio he turned around. Akio's green eyes were full of tears.

He had to use all of his will power to stop himself from really crying. But the tears came anyway. Again, waves of emotions, ran across his face. He didn't know if he had to be happy to see his sensei and his father alive, sad because they didn't know him or afraid that if they would find about him, they wouldn't believe him. Akio felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Are you all right?" it was the third hokage.

Akio swiped some black locks out of his eyes and smiled. "I've never been better."He walked to Kakashi. "I've heard a lot about you, let's fight with everything we have."

He reached out his hand and waited for Kakashi to grab it. Kakashi hesitated for a second, but evantually grabbed Akio's hand and shook it ones.

"Sure."

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"Are you two ready?" asked Sarutobi. The two teenagers nodded. "Then let the fight begin!" Akio waited for a couple of seconds. 'I don't think it's a good idea to go all out. I'll stuck to high jonin level then.' He jumped back for a moment, Kakashi still hadn't made any moves, he wasn't even looking at him.

"If you want me to go first, just say it." Stated Akio while making hand signs. "Fire release: Great fireball technique!"

An enormous ball of fire shot towards Kakashi, who saw it coming and jumped high only to be surprised by another jutsu. As soon as Akio had released the fire jutsu he'd already began making hand signs for the next jutsu. "Fire style: Flame bullet!"

Kakashi was high in the air and couldn't dodge the second fire ball as fast as he could with the first. He grunted as a painful blister began to form on his right arm. Kakashi landed on the ground and began making hand signs. But was surprised when he had to dodge another attack.

"Water style: Water fang bullets!" Huge streams of water pushed Kakashi backwards. The teen let out a snort and tried to create some distance between him and his opponent, but every step, every movement, even the blinking of his eyes, was being watched. Akio was looking at him like a hawk looks at it's prey and he didn't like it one bit.

"Amazing, he isn't giving Kakashi any time to react and counterattack." Stated Minato.

"He's good." Commented Obito. Rin and Sarutobi just nodded.

'This guy, he isn't giving me an easy fight. Guess I have to step things up.' Kakashi, finally able to counterattack, jumped into the air and began making hand signs, but stopped again when he heard a voice.

"I'm sorry, but this fight is going to be over." Kakashi looked surprised up as he heard Akio's voice right in front of him. 'What?! When did he move?!' He landed on the ground only to be blown away by Akio's fist, but before he landed back on the ground he got kicked high up in the air again. Akio waited him up there and kicked him back to the ground, causing a small-sized crater to be made when Kakashi hit the ground.

Team seven's mouth fell open when they saw Kakashi smashing in the earth and not standing up. Akio walked to the teen and raised him on his shoulder. Slowly he made his way to the rest of the group. Rin immediately began healing Kakashi's wounds and Kakashi woke up with a soft grunt. Minato didn't know what to say. He took a good look at Akio and was a little surprised when he saw Akio staring at him.

The blond smiled. "You're strong." Akio looked a bit shocked at the statement but began to smile too. "From what I could tell you're high jonin. But I guess we haven't seen everything you can do." Minato then said.

"Can you do more?" asked Obito shocked.

Akio thought about how to answer for a moment. "Yes, I'm capable of doing wind, fire and water releases because I have all three affinities. Further am I strong in tajutsu. Even though I'm not that good in genjutsu, I can escape out of most of them. I'm a summoner and a Fuujin master."

"You're a sealing master?!" Akio nodded. "Can you show me some of your work?" Minato was really happy there was another seal master besides him and his sensei. Akio took off one of his cloves and showed Minato his wrist. A small diagram was written there. The blond's eyes widened when he saw it. "It can't be."

"What is it? Is something wrong, Minato?" asked Sarutobi.

Minato shook his head and looked Sarutobi in the eyes. "I don't know why you had him in anbu, he may be even better than I am in seals."

"Why's that, sensei?" asked Rin.

"You see this diagram, Rin?" asked Minato while he pointed at the diagram on Akio's wrist.

"Yeah, what about it?"

"It's a chakra seal. The user of this seal stores chakra in it. When he's wounded or almost out of chakra he can release this. The seal gives him a chakra boost. And it depends how many chakra there's stored in it, how big the chakra boost is. As far as every seal masters know. The nidaime hokage was the only one who could make this kind of seals. As a seal master myself I've tried, but they never worked out."

Minato turned to Akio. "If you have time I'd like you to take a look at one of the seals I'm working on." Akio put on his clove again and nodded.

"He's not really a talkative guy, huh." Whispered Obito to Rin. Rin chuckled. "Oh yeah," said Sarutobi suddenly, "I almost forgot to ask. Minato, is it alright that Akio stays at your home for now? Until we found a place that suits him, of course."

"No problem." Minato grinned, before turning to his students. "Alright, we're done for the day, make sure you have a good night rest, tomorrow we're going to take training to a whole new level."

Groans and sighes could be heard as Minato turned back to Akio.

"Let's go then." He placed a hand on the younger man's shoulder and flashed away."

XxxX

Minato looked surprised at Akio as he opened the door.

"Something wrong?"

Minato shook his head. "No, but most of the people that feel the hirashin for the first time are quite sick of it."

He spotted something as the boy grinned, but thought it was nothing and got inside. "So, this is it. It isn't much, but Kushina and I like it."

"Kushina?"

"Ohh yeah, that's my wife. She's great, I bet you're going to like her. Sadly she is on a big mission and she won't be coming back until next week." Akio smiled. and now he realized what was wrong. Even though the boy was smiling, the smile never reached his eyes. It was as if he carried a mask.

"So Akio."Minato let himself fall on the couch. "By your appearance I take it your mid-twenty."

Akio sat down beside Minato, but a bit tenser. "Ehmm no I'm 18."

"18, and already this strong. That's quite rare." Akio tensed more. "Yeah.." Minato noticed it and began to smile. "Hey, how about we go to a bath house? That'll bring some relaxation to your muscles."

XxxX

Minato leaned back as he closed his eyes and enjoyed the water. "This feels great. You coming to, Akio?"

"I'm coming."

Akio slowly took one step into the water and then another. The blonde opened his eyes and was shocked from the sight. A big scar ran on Akio's chest. From his left shoulder to his right thigh. As if someone had wanted to cut him into two, but failed. Akio saw the unspoken question on Minato's face. 'What happened?'

"War."

It was only one word. But Minato understood it. "After all the things I've faced, war is still the worst. But hopefully the stone will accept the peace treaty, than It'll all be over."

Naruto closed his eyes. "A friend of mine told me ones. 'As long as there are ninja, there'll never be peace.' He told me that it was a curse where nobody could escape from." Akio opened his eyes. "I remember telling him that I would break that curse. If there was such a thing as peace, I would find it. I wasn't going to give up."

Akio's voice was low and Minato could hear the despair in it. "Now I know how stupid I was back then. I knew nothing of how the world really was, but now I do. This scar." He laid a hand on it.

"It's been given to me by someone who I'd acknowledged as my own brother. Even though I didn't have one, he was the closest thing to it. But then something happened and he and I became enemy's."

He stopped for a moment and took a deep breath. "I don't want it to happen again. That's why I'm here, to make up from all the mistakes I've made in the past."

Bright green eyes stared at Minato as Akio finished.

'The kid's young. He should have been happier than this. It's strange. Even though I'm older, he seems to know more about the war then I do.'

"Minato."

Minato woke up from his thoughts, blinked a couple of times and looked surprised at Akio's reached out hand. The teen smiled. "I'm glad I'm finally able to meet you in person."

Minato shook Akio's hand for a second and noticed that Akio's smile this time reached his eyes. He smiled too. 'Don't worry Akio, better times are coming.'

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"I'm so tired I can't move a muscle." Akio fell on his bed. Without taking of his clothes he fell asleep. Minato smiled as he peeked across the door. 'Sleep well Akio.'

It was the first time in 2 years that Akio could sleep without worry to be attacked. But that didn't mean he slept peacefully.

XxxxX

"Naruto!" Naruto looked up and saw Sakura running towards him.

"Are you all right?" She looked really worried. Naruto looked in Sakura's eyes. "The plan, did it work?"

Sakura paled visibly and looked to her feet. Naruto turned his head away. "I see." Then he remembered something. "Sakura, where's kakashi sensei?"

Suddenly Sakura began to cry. "He… he jumped in front of me… I tried to… but…!" Naruto took a step back as he realized what Sakura was trying to say.

'Kakashi was dead'

XxxxxX

Akio let out a scream as he shot straight up in his bed. His cloathes were soaked from sweat and sticking on him like a second skin. His breaths came out fast and heavy. The sound of running footsteps reached his ears and two green eyes narrowed. Without thinking he hid himself in the shadows and waited for the enemy.

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><p>Cliffhanger!<p>

I know you guys hate me for it, but it was the best point to cut the story.

The next chapter is already written and I will post it later in the day.

If you have any ideas for the story, please do tell!


	4. Old habits die hard

Minato sat down on his bed with a sigh, it had been a tough day. First training with team Seven, then training with Kakashi to prepare him for the battle with a former anbu and paperwork.. a lot of it. And although soaking in the bath had worked for his body, it hadn't put his mind at ease, it had made it even worse.

It wasn't distrust. Not at all, he trusted the boy far more then it was safe, it was something else. Something that was either very bad or very good, it depending on the way you look at it.

The blonde chuckled. 'Look at what?' A heavy sigh escaped him and his eyes narrowed. 'It is strange tough, how does an anbu with his level get a mission in an outher village. And why haven't I heard of the name Furakawa before? Something really strange is going on here. May-'

A scream disrupted his thoughts and he jumped to his feet. Grabbing the kunai from under his pillow he made way to the corridor. The scream had come from Akio's room, he was certain. The blonde ran torwards the room,threw the door open and gasped when he felt something sharp sting in his back.

"Make one move and you'll die."

Blue eyes flashed from left to right, trying to detect how great the danger was, but he couldn't see a thing, it was to dark. His eyes fell onto the light switch he knew was on his left.

'If I could just-'

"Don't even think about it, you'd be dead the moment you hit that switch."

Minato's eyes narrowed. "Who said anything about me hitting it?"

Before his attacker could react he brought his elbow up and hit him straight in his stomach, causing the attacker to stumble backwards. As fast as he could he turned around and pushed him straight into the switch. The light flickered for a second as Minato fell on his back with a gasp, an arm uncomfortable pushed against his troat. Finally the light flickered on and blue eyes met green ones. Minato's eyes widened.

"Akio?!"

XxxX

Akio stared in surprise at the person he had pinned down. For a second he didn't recognise the man, but then it dawned on him.

"M-minato..?"

As if strucked by lightning he jumped up and backed away, only to be stopped by the wall.

"I...I'd almost killed you.."

He slid down and landed with a thud on the ground, holding his head in his heads he took in a shaky breath. "I can't believe I'd almost killed you..."

Minato slowly got to his feet and looked down onto the teen. "But you didn't."

It was strange, even though he'd been so close to death only seconds ago, he felt completely calm. There was no inner voice telling him to run while he still had the chance.

Blank blue eyes looked up to him. "I'm sorry.."

Minato kneeled before him and laid a hand on his shoulder. "Don't be, I'm sure you've been trough much, it's only natural to act this way when you wake up in an unknown place. Especially in a time of war."

Akio smiled sad. "I guess.. that I'm not used to be around people anymore.."

Minato smiled at him in return and moved to sit beside the raven haired teen. "What did you dream about?"

Akio stared at him in surprise. "How do you know I had a dream?"

The blonde grinned. "I was just guessing."

Leaning his head against the wall Akio sighed. "It wasn't a dream though." He closed his eyes. "Although I wish it was."

Minato smiled as Akio's breathing slowed down, before he also closed his eyes. 'I'm going to have to talk to Sarutobi tomorrow, there's definitely something strange going on here. And i'm going to find out what.'

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Lord hokage."

Sarutobi looked up and saw a certain blonde standing in front of his desk. "Minato, what brings you here, it's your free day right?"

"I want to talk about Akio."

Sarutobi looked awaiting up to Minato, who continued. "Yesterday night he almost tried to kill me, thought that I was an enemy ninja."

Sarutobi's expression turned surprised. "You want me to let him stay somewhere else?"

Minato slowly shook his head. "No, before that we went to the bath houses where he told me a bit of his life. I trust him now, but even though I do, there's something that doesn't add up in all of his stories."

"And what would that be?"

"He talks like the war is his fault. Like he knows something that I don't."

"And you've come to ask me what that thing is?"

"Do you know what it is?" A couple of second there was a tensed silence in the room.

Sarutobi took a deep breath. "Listen Minato, it's great that you trust him and hopefully it's the other way around too. If he trusts you enough to tell you everything, he will. Until that time comes, I can't tell you anything. It's not up to me, to tell you the truth."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Akio was on his way to the training grounds as he noticed a different path. With mixed feelings he followed the path, knowing fully well where he would end up. After a couple of minutes walking he stood in front of a big stone with names engraved in it. His eyes darted from name to name.

'The're not as much names as in my timeline, but there are still many.'

Silently he touched the stone with his hand. He knew the cold surface all too well. He had visited the stone many times when Neji had died, until it was destroyed.

'I promise that this time, everything will be different. I won't let your name get on this stone, Neji.'

"Hey Akio, is that you?"

Akio took his hand of the stone, turned around and saw Obito, Rin and Kakashi walking over to him.

"We're going to train, want to come to?" asked Obito. Akio smiled. "Sure."

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"How come sensei isn't here yet?" asked Rin.

"Yeah, I know that he's supposed to have a day off, but he was the one who wanted to train." Added Obito.

"Let's just begin." Stated Kakashi in a monotone voice.

"Akio, how do you train normally?" asked Rin.

Akio ran a hand through his black hair. "Well, it's kind of a harsh method."

Rin looked at him uncomprehendingly. Right then Akio noticed that someone was watching them. 'An anbu? So Sarutobi doesn't trust me yet. Well, it's kind of logical since I just dropped in his office.'

Deciding to act like nothing had happend he answered. "I use shadow clones. Training goes just so much faster that way. I've created a new jutsu in two days, using this training method."

"That's impossible." Stated Kakashi calmly. "Even if you were capable of creating ten shadow clones and maintaining them for the whole day, it's impossible to create a whole new jutsu in that little amount of time."

Akio grinned. "Who said anything about ten?" With that Akio made a hand signs and with a poof a hundred shadow clones appeared.

"Wow…" Obito's and Rin's mouth fell open from shock. "They're not real right? Nobody can create this many and still be alive." Obito stated.

Kakashi attacked one of the shadow clones, who dodged the attack easily and threw a kunai. Kakashi picked the kunai out of the air and landed back on the ground. "They're real." He stated shocked.

Akio dispelled the clones with one hand sign and laughed at Kakashi's expression. Soon Obito and Rin joined him.

"If only you could see your face!" laughed Akio.

"Didn't expect that, huh Kakashi." stated Obito. Kakashi snorted angryily at the statement.

xxxxxxx

"What's happening here?" Minato appeared on the field and was surprised to find his team laughing their ass off, accept Kakashi, he stood angrily in front of the laughing teenagers.

Obito turned around, still a bit laughing and pointed to Kakashi. "Akio told us about his training method with shadow clones, but Kakashi didn't believe that he could make ten clones." Then it became too much and Obito began to laugh again.

Akio walked to Minato, chuckling soft. "Kakashi was convinced I couldn't create ten shadow clones."

"What did you do?" asked Minato.

"I just made one hundred." Obito and Rin began to laugh harder when they heard Akio.

"Seriously you had to see his face. It was just that of a mopping child!" Laughed Obito.

Akio didn't realize that Minato stared shocked at him. "You JUST made one hundred shadow clones?"

Akio stopped with laughing and looked at Minato. "I know that a normal person is only able to make two shadow clones, three with luck. But as I think you already know, I'm not normal. I'm able to make a thousand shadow clones with ease and maintain them for two full days."

Minato looked surprised at Akio. He knew he had bigger chakra reserves than anyone in the village, but even he couldn't make more than five or six shadow clones and maintain then for more than one hour. To be able to make a thousand, that was just... He coukdn't even name it.

Right then Minato caught something in his right eye. 'An anbu? What does he want?'

"I'll be right back." Quickly Minato flashed away and appeared in front of the now stunned Anbu. "What's your business here?"

Minato asked. "I have orders to keep an eye on Akio Furakawa." The anbu simply stated.

"From who?"

"Lord hokage."

Minato blinked for a couple of times before nodding and flashing away again. "So you noticed him too." Stated Akio as Minato appeared in front of him. Minato just stared and Akio sighed. "I guess that the old man still doesn't trust me. But it's okay. He will in time." Akio smiled sad.

"You seem awfully confident, Akio." Stated Minato with narrowed eyes.

Akio nodded. "Of course." He closed his eyes. "He doesn't know it, but, I see him as a father. He has done more for me than anyone else, and I'm grateful for that."

Minato was stunned as he realized that his respect for the kid grew greater every minute. Then he remembered what Sarutobi had said.

XxxxxxxxxX

"Minato. I've decided that Akio is going to be in your team."

"But he's a jonin."

"He's also an 18 year old that has gone through harsh times and it will take friends to forget these times. Look, you don't have to be his father or something, just make sure he has someone to look out for him. Make him trust you."

XxxxxxxxxxX

'I don't know what you're thinking lord third, but it better be good. Cause I'm already taking a liking to this kid.'

"Sensei?"

Minato awoke from his thoughts and looked at his tree students and Akio.

"Is there something wrong?" asked Rin worried. Minato shook his head and smiled.

"No, not at all. Infect it's the opposite. Lord hokage has decided that Akio is going to join our team from now on."

Stars began to shine in Rin and Obito's eyes. Akio smiled too. Kakashi just snorted and turned his back to them.

"Ahh come on Kakashi, don't be like that." Pleaded Minato. Kakashi turned back and glared at Akio who took a step forward.

"You have a problem with me?"

Kakashi took a step forward too. "You could say that."

The two teens glared angrily at each other as the killer intent radiating from them grew. Suddenly Akio took a step back and began to smile. "I'm looking forward to our missions already."

Kakashi sweat dropped. 'This is going to be annoying.'

* * *

><p>Well, this is it.<p>

I'm sorry for the bad ending of this chapter. I really wanted to finish it tonight like I'd promised. The next one will be better!


	5. The king

Here is it then :)

I'm sorry it took so long, it's been a rough week with school and I had little time to work at this. I'll try to be faster with the next one!

* * *

><p>He ran a hand through his hair as sweat covered his body. He could feel his heart beating loudly as he tried to calm himself down, not that it helped. He felt sick and it only got worse as time past by. Glancing at the clock every five seconds, he began to fiddle with jonin vest.<p>

If one were to desribe the raven haired teen in one sentence there was only one thing they could say: he was nervous like hell. Of course he had every right to be nerveus and not only because he'd be on his first anbu mission later in the evening (officially this time), or because he was going to meet the scariest person on earth: his mother, but because there was no way in telling how things would work out. For all he knew, this could be his last day as Akio Furakawa.

A low chuckle reached his ears and Akio jumped.

"Don't be so nervous, Akio. I'm sure she'll like you."

Akio forced a smile and slumped down on the couch. That wasn't the reason he was nervous, not at all, but how could he tell his not-knowing-that-he-is-a-father-father that he was worried that the village might be getting destroyed by a demonic monster who's going to meet his other half in about...

He glanced at the clock.

Two seconds!

He jumped up again and began to make his way torwards the open window. 'I can still make it if I-'

"I'm home dattebane!"

Akio banged his head against the wall and groaned. "We're all gonna die, I just know it."

Minato gave him a look full of pity. Maybe he had told him a bit to much about his wives temperament. He moved over to the teen to give him a pet on his back, but the glonde had forgotten a small detail about his subordinate. Never, and then I mean NEVER, touch Akio Furakawa in his blindspots. Most people who do, may find it hard to breath in the seconds that follow. Therefore it was no surprise that Minato found himself on his back on the ground in a single second with the teen standing slightly bent above him. And that was exactly how kushina found them.

Minato groaned as he rubbed across the sore spot on his back. "You really have to stop doing that." A chuckle from the younger man made him look up with a death glare.

Akio stopped immediatly and held his hands in front of him in an innocent manner. "You don't have to look at me like that. You know I can't help it, I've been trained to do that." He held his hand out to the blonde and waited for him to grab it.

"Yeah well," Minato accepted the offered hand and pulled himself up, "maybe we should untrain you then."

The raven haired teen raised an eyebrow and send him an 'are-you-crazy-look'. "Untrain me?"

"Untrain you."

"Is that even a word?"

"Of course it is."

Akio sweatdropped. "Liar."

The blonde smiled too, looked up for a second and ran then a hand through his hair. "I'm sorry Kushina, this musn't have been the homecoming you expected to have."

It was then that Akio noticed there was a third presence and he froze completely. His eyes went wide as he felt the evil chakra grow in strength. He could almost hear him, screaming, trying to get out. All those years that he was friends with Kurama had made him forget how the fox had been in the past. But even then he was never afraid of him.

'You!'

Akio looked up and was only a little surprised that he stood in front of a big cage. The fox behind it growled at him, his teeth blinking in the little light there was, but the boy didn't move an inch.

'Pathetic, to think that a mere human has control over me like that, I must be going soft in the future.'

'So you know what's going to happen then?'

'Of course I do! It is me who brought you here.' He grinned evily. 'Take me lightly again and you'll die.'

Not impressed Akio turned his back to the fox. 'Don't worry, I won't die that easily, not when the world's at stake.' He turned his head a little to look at the tailed beast. 'I'm no threat to you, but I do warn you, hurt my mother and I won't play as nice as I do now.'

The fox's expression turned serious. 'I can understand what a part of me sees in you. But know this, you may have befriended one half of me, but my other half won't go down that easily.'

The teen turned around and smiled warmly at the beast. 'I wouldn't have it any other way.'

For a second the fox looked schocked, but it dissapeared as quick as it had come. Showing teeth he looked down. 'I suggest you go before I break this seal and rip you to pieces.'

Akio laughed at raised a hand in the air as a goodbye. 'I'll see you soon, Kurama.'

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Weeks past by and Akio was happy with his new life. After they met, he and Kushina became good friends and the two share a great bond now. Although he hadn't made any progress with Kakashi, the others were a part of his life now, and one that he couldn't miss. The teen's past was still a mistery, but the boy itself had opened up a lot to his friends. Even though he now led two lives. In one he was the happy Akio, fighting to protect his comrades and friends. In the other he was known as Kitsune. The feared anbu leader, also described as the fox of hell. Kitsune had build up quit a reputation and had a flee on sight order on his name in the bingo book. However his team didn't know anything about him being an anbu.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Akio stripped himself from his anbu clothes and laid them on his bed. Slowly he grabbed the standard outfit for every jonin and put it on. A deep sigh escaped him. He had just come from a difficult anbu mission and he was tired as hell. The mission had taken quite a toll on him and Kurama was still sleeping so his wounds were healing slow. The raven haired teen caught the sounds of footsteps and hid the anbu clothing just in time as someone opened his door.

"Akio, we have a new mission."

Akio sighed deep and walked to Minato. "I'm coming."

"Is everything all right?" asked the blonde as he noticed that Akio was a little pale.

"Yeah."

Minato's eyes looked worried at him. 'Akio's become less energetic these days. I wonder what's wrong.'

The teen just sighed again and walked out of the room. "Let's go."

The man shook his head a couple of times and walked after Akio. "We're going on a mission, Kushina. See you later." He yelled.

"All right, be careful you guys!" Akio smiled faintly and took off, closely watched by a pair off blue eyes.

XxxxxxxxxxxX

As the two reached the gates Akio stopped. "Where are the others?"

Minato stopped too and turned around. "They won't be coming with us on this mission."

The teen gazed at his companion in suprise. It wasn't that he doubted the trust of the man in him, but it was a rarity to go on a mission with the blonde alone. Especially since the anbu guards had stopped watching him since two days. He couldn't help but be curious as why the others were left out on this mission.

Minato read the unspoken question on the teen's face and sighed as he placed a hand on his hip. "It's a good opportunity to get some more experience..-"

"So why am I the only one here then?"

The blonde shook his head. "You didn't let me finish. As I was saying, it's a good opportunity to get some experience with the other lands, which you don't have and since the others do have that experience, it wasn't nescesary for them to come along. Furthermore, it's been a while since we had some time with only the two of us."

Akio eyed the blonde warily. "Where are we going?"

"To the sand, we have to bring some documents for the peace treaty."

The teen's eyes widened. 'The sand. Gaara!' All his doubts about the reason he was going dissapeared as quick as they'd come. He'd been waiting for a chance like this.

"Something wrong?" asked Minato seeing his companions expression.

Akio eased and waved with his hands. "Not at all." Minato just shrugged and jumped into the trees, Akio following him with new found determination. Sure he was tired as hell and it wouldn't be strange if he was exhausted after a few hours running, but it was only a small detail compared to what was going to happen. He only hoped that he would finish it in time.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Minato landed on the ground as he looked around. "This will be a good place to set up camp." Akio landed beside him, with one knee on the ground, painting heavily. It had been a good 6 hours since their last break and he was about ready to fall over. Minato crouched beside him.

"What's wrong Akio?"

The teen took a few deep breaths, calming his heat beat, before he answered. "I'm just a bit tired, that's all."

"All right, I'll take the first two watches, make sure you get a good night sleep." Akio nodded before his head shot to the right. Minato's head shot that way too and he let out a frustrated sound.

"There's at least 20 ninja." Stated Minato. Akio slowly got up and took a step forward, his hands placed into a hand sign. The frustration was visible on his face. "Are you ready?" Asked Minato as he took a kunai from his pouch. The teen's eyes narrowed. 'I'm not, but there's no way back now.' "Yeah, let's go."

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Minato landed on one knee and grabbed his paralized arm as he looked up. Akio stood protectively in front of him, a bit bend through his knees.

"You'll pay for that." The teen said, his voice full of killer intent.

The enemy ninja slowly took a step back as the pressire of it rose. Akio made some hand signs and released a small chakra wave. A strong wind began to blow and the ground shook heavily. The enemy ninja's stared in shock at the scene in front of them.

"You've messed with the wrong guy."

It seemed that the ninja's in front him realized the same thing, but it was already to late for them.

"Wind style: Fox of heavens!"

Slowly the wind began to gather in one point. Minato's eyes widened as he realized that the wind began to form a huge fox with deep red eyes.

"You will regret attacking us." Stated the exhausted teen as he threw his hand forward.

Immediately the wind fox dashed for the enemy, causing the ninja to freeze in fear. Cries could be heard as the fox reached them and thousand wind slashes cut them open. With a loud roar the fox exploded and the enemy ninja fell dead on the ground.

Akio fell to his hands and knees as he struggled to breath. It felt as if his longs could explode any second. "Damn.. used to much.. chakra.." His sight began to blurry and soon everything became black.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Naruto stood in front of Shikamaru. "We can do this. We can protect our village, and keep our friends save. The children too.

"But why? Why your way?"

"Because…What I'm protecting.. is the most important thing, for the future of our village."

Shikamaru looked confused . "What's that? What are you saying?"

"All of the children, back in the village, they need a future they can believe in, to take pride in our way of life. Yes our ninja protect the code of our village and they'll always be willing to give their lives to keep people save from harm. But listen, there's more than that!"

Blue eyes pierced in Shikamaru's.

"Is sacrificing friends the way of the village?! Is that really who we wanna be?! Are you okay with that?! Winning like that may save our village, but it will corrupt it too! It will only cause suffering. Don't you see…"

The blond closed his eyes as tears gathered.

"The village I love just doesn't do things that way." He shook his head faintly and wiped the tears away, slowly taking a step to Shikamaru. "I want to…"

Another step. "Protect it…"

Another step. "No matter what."

Suddenly he jumped forward and grabbed the front of Shikamaru's cape."We have to protect the leaf village I love. That's the only future that matters! That's the future the children need!"

Naruto pushed Shikamaru away, who stumbled back. The brunette looked shocked up as the blonde came closer and laid a hand on his shoulder. "I trust you, Shikamaru, now I ask you to trust me."

With that Naruto walked away, leaving his shocked friend behind.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Akio slowly opened his eyes, only to see the with stars filled sky. He tried to sit up, but groaned when pain shot through his body.

"It's good to see you awake."

The teen slowly looked sideways and saw Minato walking towards him. "What happened?" He asked confused. He didn't remember a thing.

"We got attacked and after I got hit with a paralyze jutsu, you've hit the enemy pretty hard. After that, you collapsed. It's been two days since then."

"Two days?! Why didn't you wake me up?!"

Minato was both shocked and surprised when he heard the betrayed voice of his companion. He knew that something strange was going on, but what..? "If you were honest to me from the start, nothing of this would've happened." Stated the blonde calmly.

"You could've told me you weren't feeling well, then I could've asked Kakashi to come with me."

"I'm fine."

And that was it for the yellow flash. He could endure a lot, but he was still human. The thought alone that there was something a mere kid rather would die for then live, it was just to much.

"No you're not Akio, you're just barely recovering from severe exhaustion, are you trying to kill yourself?!"

The teen flinched from the older man's voice and sat up. "Maybe I am." 'Maybe i'm just tired of dealing with everything.'

But everything in the boy's voice told the blonde that he didn't mean it.

"I'm sorry. I should've told you from the start.." Akio looked ashamed at the ground and Minato sighed.

"It's all right. But as soon as we get back I'm going to talk with the hokage about you staying in anbu."

Green eyes shot up. "You knew?!"

The blonde gave him a hurt look. "Do you really think so low of me? Of course I knew. You're living in my house, remember."

"What about Kushina? Does she know?"

Minato paled at the thought of Kushina knowing such a thing. "Do you think I'd still be alive if she knew?" he asked jokingly.

The teen chuckled. "I guess not. But wait, if you knew, why didn't you stop me?"

The question caused his companion to let out another sigh. "Because I can't tell you what to do. I don't have the right to do that. You're 18, you can take care of yourself."

Akio clenched his teeth. Oh how he wished he could tell the blonde everything. That he had every reason to put him in his place, because he...

"Minato… I…" The boy's voice was low and soft, telling exactly how much he wanted to confess everything, but unfortunately, the blonde hadn't heard a thing as he was looking at him as if he was a hard puzzle.

"Who's Shikamaru?"

Akio looked surprised up and a flicker of sadness ran through his eyes. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. This was something he could tell without worrying about the consequences. He wanted to tell him, but also, he felt like he owed the man this much.

"Shikamaru was one of my best friends. He still is. But…" Minato moved for a second and waited patiently for Akio to continue. Green eyes looked up to the sky. "It was our final attack."

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

"We have to give it our all. If this doesn't work, nothing will." Stated Shikamaru while he looked at his friends, or what was left of them.

"Let's get them!"

The group of friends fought themselves to the front lines and lined up. With all their will power they released their strongest jutsu on the enemy. For a moment it seemed to work, but after the first volley the enemy pushed back.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Akio grabbed his sides. "He didn't survive the attack that came afterwards."

Minato placed a hand on the teen's shoulder and gave the boy a soft pinch. He couldn't help but feel sorry for him. "He sounds like a great shinobi."

The teen looked up with tears in his eyes and smiled sadly. "Yes, he was. Most of the time he complained about what a drag everything was. But he was a great fighter when it got serious, he has saved my life more times than I can count."

"That sounds like a Nara to me." Chuckled the blonde.

Akio nodded silently. 'You have no idea how right you are.'

"Minato."

"Yes?"

"What do you know about the king?" To say that the question came as a surprise was an understatement and Akio continued as he noticed the confused expression of his companion.

"If something were to happen to the village. And you could only protect one person, who would it be?"

Understanding the question now Minato frowned. "That's a question I don't think I can answer. My heart would go for Kushina, but as a shinobi I have to protect the hokage."

"So you think the hokage is the king?"

The blonde thought deep for a second. "By the way you ask that I don't think it's the right answer. But it depends how you see a King. I think that the hokage would be the most logical."

Akio laughed softly. "You know, when Shikamaru asked me that I thought so too. I mean, the hokage has all the power in the village, if he's dead, everything will be in chaos, right? But when we were on a mission, Shikamaru told me the true meaning of the king."

His gaze traveled to the ground. "He told me this: The king. The one we are trying to protect with everything we've got. Are the children. The children are the future of the village and with that more important than any hokage ever will be."

"You sound like you don't believe that." Noticed Minato.

"The king is for everyone something else. I believe in The Will of Fire." Akio grinned as he looked up to the blond. "After all, how can the children be strong if they have nothing to protect."

* * *

><p>Soo you must think: how can the yellow flash get hit by a paralize jutsu?!<p>

With the hirashin, Minato is supposed to be instoppable but I didn't want an instoppable character. After all, he's still human and still a normal man with a family, not some god.

I hope you like the next chapter! It's going to be filled with a bit more action and something you'd never see coming. I'll give you a preview!

Xxx

The sight almost took his breath away, to think that such creatures existed. Icy blue flames flickered in the soft breeze. Fur, as white as snow, almost blinded his eyes. The tension in the air had cleared and was replaced by a loving warmth. If he didn't know any better he would've said this was a dream. But he knew it wasn't. "Kaya, Kibou." Two pair of amber eyes turned to him, before they turned to focus on his companion. He knew the teen was special, but this? This turned against everything he'd learned, for they couldn't possibly be from this world.

xxx

That was it, you have an idea what's going to happen?

I'd say review and let me know!


	6. A secret summon

And another chapter done!

**Important!**

In the review for this chapter (at the end of the previous chapter) there are two names, Kaya and Kibou. I've changed Kibou's name into Asa.

Have fun reading!

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><p>Beams of light shone through the deck of leaves, enlighting the with grass covered ground. Birds sang their song as the sun rose into the sky. A deer close by made his presence known by belling loudly. Taking everything into account, it was to good of a day to be true, except for one tiny detail, pain and a lot of it.<p>

Of course it was his own damn fault by overexerting himself, but still... With every movement his chakra cores screamed at him to stop.

'Damnit, if I had known that it would hurt like hell, I would've been more careful.'

A snort interrupted his thoughts. 'Don't make me laugh, kid. If you knew, you might have ended up even worse.'

The corners of the teens mouth lifted up in a smile. 'So you're still alive, huh. I'd almost though you'd backed out on me, furball.'

Akio closed his eyes and concetrated for a second, when he opened them again he looked straight into two big red eyes.

'You're mocking me, aren't you?'

The boy let out a chuckle. 'I wouldn't dare.'

Then his face turned serious. 'What's wrong? You've been sleeping for months now and I've never seen you this tired before.' He took a step forward and laid a hand on the soft fur.

The fox closed his eyes at the touch and sighed deeply. 'It takes time to replace all the chakra I've lost.'

Green eyes narrowed. 'You should have told from the beginning.'

Slowly Kurama opened one eye and met the teen's gaze. 'It would have been the same outcome.'

Akio closed his eyes as he gave his partner a few distant pets. 'We'll meet Shikaku in a couple of days.'

Red eyes blazed with anger as a growl pierced the silence. 'I'm going to kill him.'

The teen looked up, his eyes filled with amusement. 'You know you can't do that.'

'You're being to soft, Naruto. Shikaku is not to be underestimated, he may be the weakest of us all, but he's easily provoked and that makes him as dangerous as he is.'

Silence filled the air as Akio's eyes widened a bit at the sound of his name. He smiled faintly. 'It's been a while since someone has called me that. I'd almost forgotten the sound of it.'

He shook his head slowly and took a couple of deep breaths. 'I've been working on a seal to re-seal taled beasts. I think that the base is pretty much finished, it's more the bindings I'm worried about. Whatever I do, it always falls apart in the end, I'm afraid that I won't finish it in time.'

"Akio, wake up!"

Both Kurama and Akio looked up. 'It seems you have to go back.' He looked down at the teen. 'I might not be of much help when you meet Shukaku, but I'll tell the pack to get ready, so you can summon then if you have to.'

"Akio!"

Akio took a step back. 'Take care, Kurama. I'll see you soon.'

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Akio opened his eyes and looked straight into Minato's worried gaze. "We have to go, the enemy's moving again."

The teen jumped up only to collapse again as pain soared through his body. The blond was the only thing that stopped him from falling back to the ground.

"Come on, I'll help you."

Minato swung Akio's arm across his shoulders and held him at his side. Glancing at the teen his eyes narrowed. 'I'll promise to get you out of here alive.'

A snapping sound made the two jump on the nearest branch. They didn't move fast, but for now it was all they could do.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

"They're still tailing us." Stated Minato as he glanced at his teammate, who had a thoughtful expression on his face. The yellow flash could've have escaped easily, if not for the teen. And moving him with the hirashin in such a state didn't seem like the smarthest thing to do.

"Hold on for a sec."

The blond stopped surprised as Akio got back to his own feet and bit in his thump. He made a long set of hand signs and placed his hands onto the ground.

"Summoning jutsu!"

Smoke filled the air as Minato waited patiently for the summon to appear. He knew that Akio was a summoner, but not what kind he used. For some reason toads seemed to be the obvious choice.

Bit by bit the smoke cleared and the blond's eyes widened as more of the summons was visible. The sight almost took his breath away, to think that such creatures existed. Icy blue flames flickered in the soft breeze. Fur, as white as snow, almost blinded his eyes. The tension in the air had cleared and was replaced by a loving warmth. If he didn't know any better he would've said this was a dream. But he knew it wasn't.

"Asa, Kaya."

Two pair of amber eyes turned to him, before they turned to focus on his companion. He knew the teen was special, but this? This turned against everything he'd learned, for they couldn't possibly be from this world.

There was no doubt about it, although they were bigger then a ninja hound, they were defenitely foxes. Their ears were constantely in motion, picking up every sound that was made.

"It's great to see you again, but sadly there's no time for a nice chat."

The teen let out a gasp and landed on one knee as pain shot through his body again. One of the foxes immediatly came into action and ran to him. The animal touched the teen with his nose and with every passing second Akio felt better. He looked up and met two amber eyes filled with worry.

"Thanks Asa, I'm fine now."

The fox rolled with his eyes and laid his ears flat in his neck.

"You're a fool."

Akio grinned and ran a hand through his hair before he turned serious again. "I need your help. Rock ninja are tailing us and we can't seem to shake them of."

Asa turned his head to look at his partner and nodded once. The other fox nodded back and dissapeared with a flicker. The teen got to his feet again and began to make his way to his blonde companion.

"Asa I need you to take us to the sand. I've already used the storage seal, so this is all the energy I have left."

The fox bend through his paws and Akio pushed Minato forwards. "Don't worry about the flames, they won't burn you."

The blonde jumped smoothly onto the fox and his eyes widened as he felt how soft the animal's fur was. The blue flames flickered as he ran his hand through them, they radiated a nice warmth, but weren't as hot as he thought they would be. A warmth behind him made it clear that Akio had gotten on too and that the teen was more sick then he'd let out to be. Asa straightened and in one jump they were on their way.

The fox's movements were fluently as he ran with a speed that could easily defeat that of the Yellow Flash.

"Are you sure it was a wise descision to send Kaya instead of Nishi?" Asked Asa suddenly.

"I didn't have enough chakra to summon her, furthermore, it's a good experience for her."

Asa made a snort as he put his ears flat in his neck. "That girl has been through enough to make her head of the pack, but she still has the brains of a mouse."

Akio chuckled and tapped the fox on his back. "Don't be so harsh on her. You know as well as I do that she means well."

"She's just so irresponsible."

"Don't worry, Asa. She'll be fine."

Asa let out a growl and changed to a slower pace. After a few minutes of traveling like that Akio began to pant again. Minato noticed it immediatly and turned his head. "What's wrong, Akio?"

The teen found himself incapable of answering and shook his head slowly. The blond was just ready to turn around completely when a voice stopped him.

"Don't worry, it's just the after effect of summoning us. I'm even surprised he was able to do it with the amounts he had."

"Now I think about it, I've never heard of a fox summon."

"Our scroll has been hidden for centuries, because our leader was said to be too strong and to dark to ever be summoned. It would only cause suffering in the human world."

"Who is he?"

"In your world he's known as the Kyuubi."

Minato froze. "Your leader is a tailed beast?"

The fox under him nodded. "Since he's sealed now, he can't be summoned. But we still can even though it didn't happen until two years ago."

"How many are there of you?"

"We live in a pack of 9 including our leader. I'm Asa, the healer of the pack. Each one of us has their own unique ability, giving us ranks, just like with normal summons."

Suddenly they all heard a loud yelp. Asa focused his ears and slowly came to a stop.

"What is it?" Minato asked confused. Of course he'd heared the strange sound, but it didn't mean anything to him. Although Asa seemed to know exactly what it was.

Akio straightened a bit "Kaya has dealt with the enemy. We can camp here for the night." He slid from Asa's back and walked to a big tree. With a deep sigh he leaned against it and let himself slip to the ground.

The white fox immediatly ran to him as soon as Minato's feet had touched the ground, and laid down beside him, his head on the teens lap. Akio smiled warmly as he began to run his fingers through the white fur.

The blonde watched them closely and his eyes softened. There was something comforting in watching those two and with every passing second he realized more why. They didn't act like contracter and summon, they acted like friends, like family. Of course he was friend with his summons too, but the bond these two shared was different and the Yellow Flash didn't doubt for a second that Asa wouldn't have a second thought about giving his life for the teen.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

"If I have to tell you the truth, I'm amazed that there exists such a thing as a fox summon. To think that you haven't been summoned for centuries, it's almost unbelievable." Minato had been watching the pair for some time now and decided that now would be as good as a time as any if he wanted answers on his questions.

"They're not normal summons." Akio replied as he began to stroke Asa on his head. "They only go back to their world if they want to, they don't have a limited summon time and rather than normal summons, their loyalty is one thing you can't question about."

Asa lifted his head and looked at Minato. The blond looked back and was surprised to find nothing but love in the summons eyes. "There was one other reason that we weren't summoned for so long. We're not making contracts with every soul that signs the scroll. Actually, we deny most of them."

The teen stopped his strokes and gave the fox a stunned look. "You've never told me that."

Asa yipped once and swept hit tail across the ground. "You've never asked."

The teen rolled his eyes at the answer and leaned backwards. "Tell me.

The fox moved a bit and then the story began. "It was a long time ago when our first summoning occurred. It was by a man named Madara Uchiha. When we are summoned by someone for the first time we can deny or approve the summoner. Madara summoned our leader right away, and our leader was going to deny, he coul feel that the man had nothing but hatred in his hart. But Madara used his eyes to take control over him and with that, he controlled everyone in our pack."

Asa paused for a second and looked sideways. Right then Kaya arrived. "It was the worst day of our lives."

Her voice was filled with sadness and her whole body language told them that she wasn't over it just yet. "We lost three quarter of our pack."

She slowly walked to her parter and laid down next to him. Asa gave her a comforting push with his nose and continued. "After that incident, we made a vow. We would deny everybody with a heart of hatred. For a time we were left alone, that until another summoner came. Even though he was a good man, he couldn't control our leader. So he went on a rampage. We realized it couldn't continue like that. We needed a summoner who was both strong in heart and will and on top of that capable of controlling our leader."

Kaya bowed her head. "We've waited a long time and most of us had already given up hope."

"And that's when Akio appeared." Finished Asa.

Minato straightened. "You're sating that Akio's able to control the nine tails?"

Kaya's eyes fired up and she laughed. "He's not only able to control him, he even has-"

A growl interrupted her, defenitely a warning to shut up. She bowed her head in shame and focused her eyes on her paws. "I mean... He... He has to.."

"Just shut up, Kaya."

Minato's eyes narrowed. 'What was that about? She said that Akio was not only able to control the nine tales but even…? Even what?'

Akio's eyes flashed between the blonde and the two foxes. Had Minato heard it?

Asa sat up, put his tail around his paws and sighed. "Kaya thinks really high of Akio. She thinks that if our leader wasn't sealed, Akio would've been able to easily control him. Of course I highly doubt that. Although I don't doubt that he's stupid enough to try it."

The teen straightened and gave his summon a heated glare. "Hé, that was unheard of. What have I ever done to you?"

Asa gave him an almost bored look. "Ohh nothing really, you've only almost drowned me a few times."

Akio's expression cleared up and a wide grin was plastered on his face. "But you really needed a bath those times."

The fox snorted and got to his feet. "Come on Kaya, we're standing watch tonight." Kaya sighed as she got up and followed her friend into the trees.

Xxxx

As soon as the two dissapeared out of sight Akio turned to look at the blonde. "Listen, I know there are still things you don't know about me and… maybe you don't trust me, but-"

Minato raised his hand to stop him and shook his head. "There's no reason for me to distrust you. It's true that you are different than anyone I've ever known and that I don't know much about you, but ever since I've met you, the missions have been more acceptable. Even though I've only just met you, it feels like I've known you for my whole life."

The teen blinked a couple of times. "You really mean that?"

"I do."

Akio smiled and re-aranged his arms on his legs as he turned serious again. "Then it's time to tell you something. I know it.. about Kushina I mean."

Minato's expression got blank and Akio didn't know what to think. Telling that much, made it more dangerous then it already was and he didn't know if the blonde would be mad at him. But not telling could've made a breach in their friendship and that was the last thing he wanted.

And then there was one more thing. He needed both parts of the ninetales to be on his side for his backup plan to work. He needed to convince the other part of Kurama to help him and the only way to do that was to talk to him. But he needed to do so without having to be sneaking around all the time. Yes, Minato had to know, it was the only way.

"Of course you know."

Akio's head shot up as he stared at the smiling blond with shock.

"You have the fox summon, I'm sure you felt her burden the moment you saw her."

The teens eyes narrowed slightly at the word 'burden' but further he didn't move an inch as he waited for the man to continue.

"I trust you to not tell anybody."

Akio smiled. And there it was, his chance to talk to the tailed beast, without having to be secret about it. "I won't, but I do want to ask for something in return for keeping it a secret."

"What is it?"

"I want to have a look at the seal to make sure everything's okay. And I want to talk to him."

This time it was Minato's turn to narrow his eyes. "You want to try and control him, don't you." It wasn't a question.

For a second the tension rose as none of the two spoke until finally, Akio broke it. "No, I want to make sure he won't hurt her and if possible make him our ally. There are more to tailed beasts then we think and I want to find out what."

"You've surely done your research."

The teen smiled faintly and closed his eyes. "I didn't have a choice."

The blonde smiled and closed his eyes too. "But you have now, and I'm sure you'll make the right one."

* * *

><p>I hope you liked it.<p>

In the next chapter: A shocking friendship, a sticky situation and a new ally.


	7. Risks and Friendships

Next chap!

The story is going great now and I want to thank everybody for the reviews!

I hope you like this chapter. Have fun reading!

* * *

><p>The rest of the way to the sand went fast with the help of Asa and Kaya, now they were only one day late, instead of two. Asa kept on healing Akio and with Kurama waking up slowly the teen felt a lot better. The two foxes and their riders stopped when they stood in front of a big canion.<p>

"This is the entrance to the sand village. We have to go on foot from here." Said Minato as he jumped from Kaya.

Akio descended from Asa and turned to the two foxes. "Thanks for everything."

They bowed their hans and slowly faded away until they were gone. The blonde looked stunned at the manner the two foxes used to go back.

"Like I said, they're not normal summons." Akio chuckled a bit at his companion's expression, but faced the enormous canion in front of him again.

Minato shook his head a little and took a step to the wall. "Listen, we've been enemy's for a long time with the sand and I don't think that they'll let us just drop the papers and head back to our village. That's why the hokage has sent me to do this and not an ordinary messenger. Be prepared for anything." Akio nodded, his eyes filled with determination.

'This is it, we've only got one chance.'

The teens eyes narrowed when he heared the voice. 'Then we have to make sure it counts.'

Once more he nodded and then the two got on their way.

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"Stop right there!"

Akio and Minato stopped dead in their tracks as a voice reached them.

"Who are you and what is your business here?"

Minato took a step forward and spoke up. "We are messengers from the hidden leaf village. We have an important message for the Kazekage concerning a peace treaty."

A young looking sand ninja came a bit closer. "You should've arrived yesterday, how do we know that you're really from the hidden leaf?"

"We're late because we got attacked by ninja of the hidden stone. We managed to defeat them but we had to take care of our wounds before continuing."

The sand ninja frowned but it quickly changed when the younger leaf ninja came to him with a smile on his face. He didn't trust him, the way he caried himself, with too much confidence. A mischievous smile appeared on his face as the teen stopped right in front of him.

'It's those that are too confident who find their deaths early, let's see how long you will manage in an unknown area.'

But his expression soon changed again when their eyes met. The teens eyes showed the same thing his once had. Strength, determination, loss, pain, but above all, the will to never give up whatever the circumstances were. It made him almost regret what was going to happen in the future. And a dark future it would be.

"You're Sasori of the red sand right? I've heard a lot about you."

Minato narrowed his eyes. 'So this is Sasori of the red Sand. Better be careful.'

Sasori nodded slowly, he already respected the man. "You're a strange one. What's your name?"

"I'm Akio Furakawa, jonin of the hidden leaf."

"I see…"

Akio sighed and rubbed his temples. "Listen, we've just come here for a mission that is too important to walk away from. So we could stand here all day until one of us drops dead from dehydration, or… you could let us complete our mission. And since we're not really accustomed to this kind of weather I really hope it's the latter."

All the sand ninja around had the shock of their life when Sasori began to laugh. Their lands were in the midst of war, people all around them died, never would the sand ninja have thought that someone from the leaf could get one of them to laugh, let alone Sassori, the kid who was almost as dead as his own puppets.

"You're really a weird one, Akio Furakawa. Alright, you've got permission to enter the village. But I trust you to behave and leave immediately after you're mission is done."

Akio waved with his hand in front of his face. "Of course, of course. It's not that I want to stay here any longer than necessary. Seriously how do you deal with all this sand? It's driving me crazy." As prove the teen began to scratch his back while making a stuffled groan.

Again Sasori laughed slightly and now others joined him as well, seeing the idiotic sight of a ninja scratching his back was just too much. Slowly all the tension in the air began to disappear and Akio reached his hand out to Sasori.

"It was nice to meet you, Sasori of the red sand. Maybe when I'm not on a mission we can spar a little."

The red haired teen grabbed Akio's hand and smiled warmly "Same to you, Akio Furakawa and I'm already looking forward to that day."

Minato smiled nervously as he watched the scene from a distance. 'Seriously, you'd think he's talking to a friend instead of an enemy.'

"Minato, if you don't want to stand there all day I suggest we go inside now." Akio gave him a bright smile and turned to walk away.

The blonde sweat dropped and followed the teen with a small smile. 'This is surely going to be interesting.'

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

"Akio, we're not on a holyday here, you seriously should stop smiling like a total idiot." Stated Minato.

The two leaf shinobi had arrived in the kage tower and were now waiting for the kazekage to call them in.

"So you want me to look like Kakashi all day?" Immediately the teens face changed into an emotionless one. Minato felt a shiver running across his backbone and held his hands in the air.

"Alright I get it, just stop with the-"

"The kazekage can meet you know."

Akio looked up and saw a girl his age standing in front of him. In her arms she held a small baby with red hair. Akio's heart skipped a beat when he noticed the sign of love above the kid's left eye and then he felt the dark presence. His anger flared up as he realized that the seal that was holding Shikaku, was nothing. Now he understood how Gaara had been influenced so easily.

'Don't get so worked up, Kid. You're making the girl nervous.'

The teen took a couple of deep breaths and calmed down a bit, although his eyes still burned with unspoken anger.

'It's unbelievable that the one who made this seal thought that it would hold Shikaku.'

He gave the girl a small smile and glanced at the baby. "He's beautiful. The kazekage's son I guess?"

The girl nodded hesitantly, he really had made her nervous. "Yes, his name's Gaara."

"Come one Akio, we can't let the Kazekage wait." Akio sent the girl one last smile and followed the blonde into a big room.

Akio smiled sadly as he eyed the Kazekage. 'He's just like Gaara.'

In the mean time Minato had already bowed and was explaining their appearance. "Lord Kazekage, we've come from the hidden leaf village to deliver this to you." He handed the red haired man a scroll, who opened it and began to read.

After a while he rolled the scroll up again and narrowed his eyes as he looked at Minato. "The yellow flash of the leaf, so we finally meet." He turned to Akio. "And who may that be?"

Akio broke out of his thoughts and bowed. "My name is Akio Furakawa, it's an honor to meet you, lord Kazekage."

Not interested in the teen, the kazekage turned back to the blonde. "You're hokage is really a fool if he thinks that we will agree to this. We've lost hundreds of shinobi, we've been humiliated in front of our own children, what in Kami's name makes you think we will accept?!"

The man's voice was filled with hatred and was colder than ice. Akio flinched a bit at the tone, but Minato didn't move an inch and the teen didn't know if the man was either really brave, or really stupid. The blonde stood just as confidently as before in front of the furious man.

"If you don't agree with it, the war will drag on. And if that happens, more lives will be lost."

The red haired man narrowed his eyes. "Is that a threat?"

Minato shook his head. "Not at all, it's just the way it is."

For a second Akio thought that the kazekage would kill the blonde where he stood, but fortunately the man turned his back on them. "I won't agree with this. I suggest you leave immediately."

Minato sighed and bowed, a bit less deeper than the first time, though. "We will, lord Kazekage."

The blonde was on the verge of turning around when Akio's voice stopped him. "Wait, first there's something we need to talk about, lord Kazekage."

The kazekage turned around again and looked at the teen with a hint of curiosity in his eyes. "And what would that be."

Akio took a step forward. "Before I tell you, you have to send your anbu guards away and activate the privacy seals."

"And why would I do that?"

"Because it concerns your son."

Minato gave his teammate a confused look. "Akio, what are you talking about? We have nothing left here anymore, let's go."

Akio shook his head. "No, I have to do this. And you should stay too, Minato."

The kazekage hesitated for a second but eventually send the anbu away and activated the privacy seals. "What about my son?"

"I know about the tailed beast that's sealed inside him."

Shock overthrew the two other man in the room. "How?"

"It doesn't matter how, the problem here is the seal. I don't know who made it, but that person has no idea of what he's doing. With the seal your child now has, the tailed beast will be able to influence him and eventually make him his own."

The kazekage slammed his fist onto his desk. "That's impossible. That seal has been made by our best seal master."

"Then I seriously suggest you find another seal master. Because this seal will break and then everyone will be in danger. Unless…"

"Unless what?"

And here came the risky part. Telling the man about the seal was no problem, but convincing him to let his enemy help him, was going to be tough.

The teen took another step forward and took a deep breath. "I can place a stronger seal on him. With that the tailed beast won't be able to influence your son."

A silence filled the room until suddenly the Kazekage burst out laughing. "Does the leaf only contain fools? You're asking me to give you control over our strongest weapon."

Akio clenched his hands to fists. "If we leave the seal like this, you're village will be in danger."

The red haired man took a step forward. "Not if I can do something about it. Nice try kid, but I won't even let you get anywhere near my son. He's the future of our village. With him we can win every war that's coming."

And that was it for the teen. 'I'm sorry, Kurama, but I can't take this any longer. Not when he keeps talking about his son like he's some kind of weapon.'

A deep sigh could be heard followed by a low voice. 'And there goes our only chance.'

"You're disgusting." Akio stated through gritted teeth. "He's your own son, not a weapon that you just use."

The kazekage narrowed his eyes. "He's mine, I can do whatever I want with him."

"So you want him to die?" The teen seriously began to lose his patience with the man in front of him.

A tensed silence spread into the room as killer intent began to rise. Akio took a couple of deep breaths and forced himself to calm down. "How can you call yourself a kage. You're willing to sacrifice your own son, your own people to win a never ending war. You have no right to the title of a kage."

He turned his back to the man and closed his eyes in anger. "Kage's are hero's who would give their life for their village, not the other way around. If you really want everything to be lost, fine. But I'm not going to just watch as you let innocent people die only because you wanted to save your own pride."

With long strides the teen cleared himself out of the room. "This won't be end, I'll promise you that much."

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Minato was shocked to say the least. 'How does he now about the tailed beast?' He was broken out of his thought by an angry voice.

"So this is why you wanted a peace treaty. You wanted us to think you weren't a danger anymore so I'd let you place the seal."

The blonde frowned slightly at the accusation. "Actually, I didn't know about any off this. And I assure you the leaf wouldn't do something like that. Even though I didn't know, if it's true what Akio said, your village will be in danger in the future. I'm a seal master myself so I know how dangerous an incomplete seal is."

The kazekage let out a snort and turned around again. "Leave for now. We will talk about this in two days, after I've informed the counsel."

Minato bowed and walked to the door. "One more thing, lord Kazekage. Akio might be young, but he's already a better seal master then I am. He might actually be the best seal master in our village right now, he knows what he's talking about." After that he opened the door and left the room.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Akio was walking across the village with his hands in his pockets. He was still upset about what had happened earlier and even though he knew he shouldn't let his anger control him, he couldn't stop it. A part of him wanted to make the man pay for what he'd done to Gaara, but then again, he hadn't really done it yet. Frustrated he kicked a stone in front of him out of the way and was met with a curse.

"Hé, can't you watch where you're kicking things!"

Green eyes rose and met with a pair of brown ones.

"Akio?"

"Sasori?" The teen ran a hand through his hair and let out a tense sigh. "I'm sorry. I'm not really in a good mood right now."

The red haired rubbed across his head and gave him a sad look. "How about we take a walk?"

Akio thought about it and nodded hesitantly. Sasori began to walk and the black haired teen followed him with his hands in his pockets. "So, what's on your mind?"

He sighed deeply and looked up to the sky. 'What isn't? Next year the village will be attacked and there are so many things I still have to take care of.'

"More then I can handle, that's for sure."

"Why don't you tell somebody then?"

Akio smiled faintly. "You make it sound so easy, but it's not. You see, I'm different then the others in our village and being different makes some clans think that I'm a threat to them."

"You mean like the Hyuuga and Uchiha clans?"

The teens steps faltered for a second. "You know about them?"

"Who wouldn't know about them, their eyes are almost legendary."

Akio snorted. "They're not that special."

Sasori glanced up at the teen as he chuckled and their eyes briefly met. "You jealous?"

A laugh escaped the leaf nin. "Jealous of what? Their eyes? Their strength? It's nothing you can't reach with training hard. And their arrogance only tops it off, no thank you, I like the way I am."

They're eyes met again before Sasori turned to look in the sky. "Maybe you're right, but still. Haven't you ever thought about how it would be in a clan? Surrounded with people who love you and understand your power."

He rose his hand in the air and stretched his fingers out. "One still has to wonder about those things, right? How would our lives be if the whole world was one clan. All with the same abilities, but different hopes and dreams."

"Can't say I have. And a world where everybody is the same is a world I would avoid. We have different hopes and dreams because we are different, they're a part of who we are."

"Even if the same hopes and dreams cause people to have to give up on theirs? I mean, we're ninja, isn't it a bit weird to talk about your own dreams when we're just pawns of one man, who has his own dreams."

Akio stopped walking completely and looked up. "I know that, but there's so much more to it. We endure because we're ninja, but at the same time we meet wonderful new people. The world is full of them and I'm sure that one day we'll be able to live in piece with each other."

Sasori blinked a couple of times. "You're really weird, you know that." He stated dryly.

The black haired teen scratched his head and smiled. "I hear that a lot."

"Ni-san! Ni-san!"

Both man turned around and saw a small blond girl with four ponytails running torwards them. Sasori smiled and kneeled down as the little girl reached him.

"Look, I did it! I did it!" The girl held her hands up and then they saw it, it was small, but there was definitely the beginning of a tornado in the palm of her hands.

Sasori's smile brightened as he laid his hand on top of her head and rufled through her hair. "Good for you, Temari. Now go find your father and show it to him."

Akio's eyes softened, of course it made sense that she was here, Temari was, after all, the oldest of the three siblings.

Temari pouted as she crossed her arms in front of her chest. "But you promised to help me further."

Sasori glanced at his companion and then back at the girl. "I'm with someone right now, but I'll teach you later."

Big aquamarine eyes focused on Akio and he too kneeled down. "You're name is Temari, right?"

The girl nodded.

"Well Temari, how about I'll teach you something?"

She blinked for a couple of times and looked at him hesitantly.

"You can?"

The teen opened his hand and the girl let out a soft gasp as a small tornado appeared in his palm. "You can do wind too! Just like me!"

Akio smiled brightly and grabbed a piece of paper out of his jonin flak. He reached it out to the girl who grabbed it with a confused look. "Chakra flows through your whole body, from your fingertips till your toes. This exercise teaches you how to control your chakra."

He grabbed another piece of paper, closed his hands around it and opened them again.

"You see, i've torn the paper with my wind chakra, now you try it."

Tiny hands covered the paper and the girl closed her eyes, just like she'd seen Akio do. After a minute or two she opened her eyes again only to squeal loudly. Her whole face lightened up as she stared at the small cut that had appeared. Her aquamarine eyes met his green ones and she bowed slightly.

"Thank you, mister."

Then she turned to Sasori again. "I'm going to show this to daddy, see you later, Ni-san!"

Akio got back to his feet as Sasori gave the girl a hug and waved her goodbye. "She'll be a powerful kunoichi one day."

Sasori straightened and smiled warmly. "Yes, she will."

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><p>So I know that I'd promised action in this chapter, but it would be too sudden if I did that.<p>

And yeah, I'm going all filosofical on you guys. Sorry :p

Little Temari 3, you guys like her too? If you do, I can include her in the next chap, as it is now, she isn't in it.


	8. New bonds and old enemies

Hi there!

I'm kinda in the middle of no-where right now and there is wifi, can you believe it?!

So yeah, here's the chapter. I've finished it and am busy with the next one.

Have fun reading!

* * *

><p>With a deep sigh he closed his eyes and let himself fall on the bed. It had been a crazy day with crazy people. His eyes shot open again when he finally realized something. This was the first night he could relax since landing in the past and now that he thought about it, he hadn't thought about the situation at all. Now that he had the time he could-.<p>

A sudden knock on the door made him groan in agony. Cursing under his breath he got up and made his way torwards the door. With his hand on the knob he let out another curse. "A guy can't even get his rest without some-"

His green eyes flickered angrily as they met with the wall across his room. "Is this some kind of joke or something?"

"What do you mean, mister?"

The soft voice made him look down and his expression softened immediatly. Letting out a soft sigh he kneeled down and smiled warmly at the little girl. "Temari, what on earth are you doing here?"

The girl let out a sob and looked up with teary eyes. "I did it, the paper, I cut it in two."

Akio gave her a confused look. "Then why are you crying?"

At this Temari let out another sob as she tried to wipe the tears away with her hands, but they came too fast and finally she gave up. "M-my dad... I.."

The teen gave her a sad look and laid a hand on her back. "Why don't you come inside."

XxxxxxxxxxxX

"Now, why don't you tell me what's wrong?"

Temari began to fiddle with the end of her shirt as tears appeared again. "I showed my daddy the trick with the paper thing and then told him about you. He got really mad and started yelling."

She pressed her little hands against her eyes as the tears streamed down her face. "He's never yelled at me before..."

Her body sunk deeper into the couch as she tried her hardest to stop crying. "Nii-san is on a mission and... I.. Didn't have anybody else to talk too..."

The girl drew her knees to her chest and started hugging them. "I'm scared.."

For a moment Akio stared at her. It was hard to take in that this little girl was the same person as the hardened woman his friend had been married with. A sob brought him back and he crouched in front of the chair she sat on.

"Temari."

Aquamarine eyed looked up.

"You don't have to be scared anymore, everything will be okay. Your dad and I just have a different oppinion on something. I'm sure he was just trying to protect you."

He rose his hand and roufled through her blonde hair and a small smile appeared on her face. "But seriously though, what were you thinking, coming to me, and late at night with that. I could have been an assassin send to kill you."

Her smile dissapeared and made place for a frown. "No, you're a nice person."

"Maybe I'm faking it."

"Mommy always said it was bad to lie to people." He gave her an 'oh-no-you-got-me' look and she chuckled softly. "You're funny, mister."

Akio chuckled too and poked her forehead gently. "No more mister, my name is Akio."

"Akio?"

Her eyes lightened up, seemingly happy of how the name sounded as she threw herself forward and hugged him tightly. "Thank you, Akio Nii-san, I'm not scared anymore."

The teens eyes went wide at the sudden action, but not even a second later he hugged her back even tighter. 'I promise I'll protect you this time, I won't let you die.'

"Nii-san?"

He let her go and got to his feet again. "Go sleep now, it's already late."

"Can I sleep here?"

Akio walked to his couch and sat down, closing his eyes tiredly. "No, I'm sure you father has find out you aren't in your room by now, he must be worried."

The sound of rufling clothes let him know that the girl had listened to him and went to the door. But the warm body pressed against him told him otherwise. He chuckled slightly as a head was placed in his lap and laid a hand on the girls back.

"I love you..Nii-san.."

Green eyes widened at the statement and his body froze. Then his eyes softened again as he laid a hand on the girls head and stroke her hair once. He didn't know what to say, so just pressed her more firmly against him.

"It's a miracle how easily kids can love someone, isn't it?"

Akio chuckled softly and the vibrations of his chest caused the sleeping girl on his lap to move a bit. "It is."

He looked up and met with two blue eyes that almost seemed to light up in the dark. "But it is the same thing that gets them influenced so easily."

He lifted the girl in his arms and made way to his bed. Laying her down and covering her with the sheets he stroke her hair one more time, before walking torwards the window. "I won't apologize to him, so if you're here for that reason you can leave."

Minato shook his head slowly and took a step closer. "I'm not, although I do think it was a bit harsh."

"I don't understand how somebody like him can become a kage. 'To protect the ones weaker then us.' Isn't that what it's all about?" His hands clenched into fists as they trembled from anger. "How can he just throw so many lifes away, even though it doesn't have to?"

"I think your underestimating the position he's in, Akio. It can't be easy to have to take care of a whole village."

The teen lifted his head to look up to the sky. "I know fully well what position he's in, but even so, what he does is wrong."

"What do you mean?" Akio turned around and his eyes softened as they met Minato's.

Five words. He was only five words away from everything he loved. He only needed to say those five words once and then he wouldn't be alone anymore. He could be with his family, without having to lie about his true heritage. He could call his parents mom and dad they would call him by his name, his real name. Everything he'd ever wanted, was right here in front of him.

"Minato, I-."

'Have you already forgotten them? Have you already forgotten all the promises you've made?'

His eyes widened as memories flashed before them.

_"Aren't you a little weird compared to the others?" "What's weird is your hair! "I get it, I get it!" "I'm telling you this because you don't get it. You think you get it, which isn't the same as actually getting it, get it?" "You've become as strong...if not stronger than me." "The next generation will always surpass the previous one. It's one of the never-ending cycles in life." "Because you're the only shinobi in the world who can surpass the Fourth. Thats what I believe."_

_"I will never go back on my word, because that too is my ninja way!" "I used to always cry and give up... I made many wrong turns... But you... You helped me find the right path... I always chased after you... I wanted to catch up to you... I wanted to walk beside you all the time... I just wanted to be with you... You changed me! Your smile is what saved me! That is why I'm not afraid to die protecting you! Because... I love you..."_

_"I never really liked Sasuke, but all the same, he's a member of the Hidden Leaf village, he's a comrade and I'll put my life on the line to help him, that's the way of our village. I know I usually seem like a pretty lazy guy, but not today. Because now, I'm responsible for your lives too." "Sensei entrusted me with a lot, from big things to little things. It's the same for you, an unlimited number of things, don't you think it's about time for us, to be the ones who entrust not the entrusted, it's a pain in the ass but I can't say that. Someday you'll be the one to treat others to ramen and you'll be called Naruto sensei... We can't stay kids forever, like Asuma and Jiraiya, I wanna be as cool as them."_

_"All I've been doing is watching you two from behind... Now, get a good look at MY back!" "He's making us realise that he considers all of us his comrades! I'm going to make sure Naruto has a full recovery! Every one of us must do what's in their power! If we're going to die any way… …then it's better to die fighting than to do nothing!"_

_"One of the Legendary Sannin taking on a snot-nosed Genin... I oughta be ashamed of myself." "Jiraiya, are you the one who taught him the Rasengan? Are you acting like a teacher by teaching him something he can't master? Don't give him any ideas! That's why this kid likes to daydream that he's going to become Hokage someday."_

'Are you giving up on them?'

'No.'

'It sure seems like it.'

'Never!'

Shaking his head to clear his mind, a small smile appeared on his face. 'I've never given up and there's no way I'm going to start now.'

With newfound determination to keep his secret he turned away. 'Thank you, Kurama. For letting me remember.'

"In time I will tell you everything you want to know, but right now there's something I need to do."

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

"Do you feel that?"

"I don't know what it is, but I feel it alright."

Akio and Minato were on there way to the Kazekage when a sudden burst of chakra was felt. Killer intent grew stronger with every step they took. The ground shook heavily while explosions lightened the sky as if it was on fire.

'Kid, it's Shukaku.'

'It can't be, Gaara's just a baby.'

'I'd recognise this chakra anywhere. My guess is that Shukaku felt me and has used all his strength to break through the seal.'

The teen gritted his teeth. 'Damnit, why now?!'

'There's no use in getting upset, we have to deal with this, and fast!'

Akio sped up until he was running at full speed, followed by Minato. Within a couple of seconds they'd reached the Kazekage building, or wat was left of it. The sight was a shock to see, it looked like a whole war had been fought. What once were strong buildings, build to survive every kind of sandstorms, were now reduced to nothing but a pile of stones. People lay sprawled across the ground, some hurt, others worse.

Akio looked in front of him, his eyes as cold as stone, while Minato kneeled down beside a small body. The teen didn't have to look, he knew the kid couldn't have survived the explosions. The blond shook his head slowly and got to his feet again. "We have to stop this."

Akio nodded and immediatly began to search for Shukaku. He wasn't hard to find at all, nor was the Kazekage, they found out. Blasts of Iron sand flew to the tailed beast, to try and stop him, but to no avail. The teen dashed forward and was just in time to interupt what would have been a fatal blow for the red haired man. The kazekage let out a groan as he fell to one knee. Akio faced Shukaku with a cold look and turned his head a little to look at the village leader.

"Are you happy now? You're village is falling apart, your people are dying and you, the kazekage, has been driven to your knees."

A silence fell as Minato arrived too and was waiting patiently.

"This is what you wanted right? You chose this."

"No.. This isn't what I wanted.."

Akio turned around completely now and looked down at the man in front of him. "I've warned you for this, but you told me to dissapear and look where we stand now."

The kazekage bowed his head and looked at the ground, but a cold voice made him look up again. "Raise your head and look at what you've done! Never turn away from the things you've caused! Can't you hear them?"

He pointed to a part of the city that was still intact.

"Even though you're the reason this is happening, they still want your help. Your people still need you to save them."

He turned his cold gaze to the enormous beast behind him. "And you, what do you think you're doing to this village?"

A loud roar was to be heard as the beast noticed him. "Minato, get him out of here, I'll deal with this guy."

The blond nodded and immediatly ran to the kazekage while Akio made some hand signs, bit in his thump and slammed his hand onto the ground. 'I'm going to need you again, boss toad!'

But nothing happened. He let out a soft curse and made some other handsigns. He placed his hand on the ground and with a small amount of smoke Asa appeared.

"Asa, Shukaku is on a rampage. I need you to distract him for a while."

Asa nodded and dashed forward, blue flames erupting from his body. Shukaku noticed the fox and growled as the head of the flames burned his skin. Akio nodded once and sat on the ground with his eyes closed.

Asa kept distrecting Shukaku with his flames from different directions until he heared a short whistle. Quickly the fox dodged an attack and ran back to the teen. Shukaku lifted his claw, ready to slam it down in the little bugs that dared to annoy him.

Meanwhile Minato had gotten the kazekage to a safe place, but when he turned around to go back to help, he saw that it was already to late. His eyes widened as the ground thrembled beneath the beast's attack, there was no way Akio could have survived that. For a moment he was too shocked to move as sand flew up and hid the scene away from sight. There was only one thing he could think about.

"Why.. Why didn't you dodge it?"

"Because he didn't have to."

Surprised, the blonde turned around and stood eye to eye with Asa. "What do you mean?"

Asa sat down and wrapped his tail around his paws. "Just watch."

Blue eyes turned back to the scene. Bit by bit the sand fell onto the ground again. And then he saw it. Akio was alive and not only that, the teen had stopped the attack with just one hand. A red cloak with black flames at the bottom flickered around him. Mimato's eyes widened as he recognized the familiar chakra of a sage.

'The kid is a sage?!'

Akio looked up to Shukaku with a sad smile. "I'd hoped that we'd never meet again, Shukaku."

The raccoon faced the teen and snorted in annoyence. "You again! You brat, this will be the last time you get in my way, now die!"

Shukaku shot his other claw to Akio, who jumped up and avoided the attack with ease.

'So tailed beasts know everything from the real timeline?'

'Seems like it.'

The teen landed on top of the beasts head and grabbed a kunai from his hip pouch.

"What's the use of this Shukaku? I've beaten you before and I can do it again."

A hoarse laugh filled the air. "You and what army? You're just a pesky little fly that's about to become my diner. Things have changed brat, no host that's holding me back, I'm at full power! Now stand still and let me eat you!"

The teen grinned as he drove the kunai into the skin, causing a loud roar to errupt from the beast under him.

"Not everything has changed, you're still as easily provoked as ever. Did you really think I was doing nothing up here? Look around Shukaku, you've been surrounded."

Shukaku looked around and saw that he indeed was surrounded by five shadow clones.

"When did you..? No matter, a couple of clones aren't going to be able to kill me!"

"Kill you? That's not really wat I was aiming for at the moment."

With a single sign the five clones began making different hand signs. They finished at the same time and five voice screamed out different things.

"Water style: Water dragon!"

"Wind style: Wind dragon!"

"Fire style: Fire dragon!"

"Earth style: Earth dragon!"

"Lightning style: Lightning dragon!"

5 different dragons appeared and flew into the sky. The clones dissapeared with a poof and Akio fel down on one knee, panting hard. "I really hope this works."

With all the strength he had left, the teen rose again and made a single hand sign. "It's now or never..."

He gathered all his chakra to one point and released it in a single second. "Chakra style: Chakra dragon!" A golden dragon roared as he joined the others into the sky.

Akio rose both his hands in front of him and slammed them into each other. And immediately the dragons began to fly around them. Faster and faster until slowly they all merged together. A wall of colors and elements trapped them and it came closer every second. The teen hissed in pain as flames burned his skin and shocks of elektricity ran through his body.

"A little bit longer.."

Shukaku growled in pain and anger as almost every part of him touched the deadly wall.

"Now!"

He made another hand sign and touched the kunai with both hands.

"Sealing jutsu: six layer seal!"

He released a short burst of chakra and made a small gap into the wall. With the little strength he still had he jumped and landed with a sickening sound on the ground on the other side of the wall. The small gab immediatly closed again and the wall got lighter and lighter. A blinding flash made him close his eyes, but he opened them again when he heard the soft cry of a baby.

Akio let out a small laugh. "It worked!"

But the laugh quickly changed in a cry of pain as his adrenalin faded away. He finally felt all the wounds and the strain his body had taken. A soft yipping sound made him look up and he looked straight into two amber eyes filled with worry.

"You worry.. way to much."

"And he had every right to do so."

The teen winced and let out a gasp as Minato helped him up. "What you did was reckless."

Too exhausted to answer Akio just nodded.

Minato eyed the teen with newfound respect. To be able to defeat a tailed beast wasn't an everyday thing and the kid did it even without getting himself killed. But, the fight had also brought new questions to his mind and he was really aching to get them answered.

The cry of a baby made both men look up and Akio was surprised to see the Kazekage standing in front of him with Gaara in his arms. Their eyes met briefly until the kazekage closed them and bowed his head. The teen understood the message immediatly and nodded once. They didn't need words to understand it each other, their body language told it all. And right now Akio's body told him that it had been enough. His head fell to his chest and Minato had to take a step to the side to catch the teens weight as his legs finally gave away.

"Akio, stay with me now. Hé!"

'Good job, kid.'

A smal smile appeared on the teens face before he finally gave in to the darkness and drifted into unconsciousness.

* * *

><p>And yeah, I've thrown in a sentence of Kakashi, it just sounded nice xD.<p>

It might be a while before another chapter comes.

Have a nice vacation!


	9. Scars reopened

I'm sorry I'm late with posting!

It's been a crazy week and I didn't have a lot of time.

But it's ready now although a bit shorter then the other chapters.

If you have any ideas for the story, please tell! I kinda have a writers block now.

Have fun reading!

* * *

><p>Naruto stood at the top of a hill, his eyes, blank and cold, were looking at the lake below. It was a beautiful sight, but the blonde had lost all eyes for that. He could only see the enemy at the other side of the lake, nothing else mattered, not anymore. A pair of arms hugged him tightly from behind, but he didn't move an inch.<p>

"How long have we been fighting?"

"Almost.. two years now..."

"You know that's not what I meant, Sakura."

Her arms tightened around him and he frowned. "After all, we've done nothing more then survive and barely at that. We're not fighting anymore, not since..."

He trailed off, shook his head and turned around, looking into the green eyes he'd always loved so much. "Isn't it funny.."

He trailed a scar on her cheek with his eyes and gazed then back into hers, her arms still around him. "How much I wouldn't have given for you to hug me like this, two years ago."

Sakura closed her eyes and leaned her head against his chest. "Things have changed, we're not the small kids we used to be."

The blonde let out a soft chuckle. "They've changed alright and there was nothing we could do except change too, but.. Still.. I'll always be asking myself if it was the right thing to do."

"It was and you know that! Don't you dare regret it! Kakashi has-!"

"I know, Sakura! I know full well what he has done! But... damnit!

He leaned his head on her shoulder as a sob escaped him. Sakura's arms around him tightened again.

"You are all we have, Naruto. We believe in you, no matter what, we will fight if that's what you want."

"How can I...? There are only a handful of us, I'll just send them to their deaths, but even if we don't fight, there's nowhere to run."

"If we are going to die either way, I rather go down fighting then to have to die as a coward."

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxXxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Akio's eyes shot open, the memory still clear on his mind. A heavy sigh escaped him, he knew exactly from when the memory was, he knew every detail: where they were, what kind of clothes they had on but above all, how the pink haired had sounded. Even after all what had happened, he'd sensed no regret in her voice and that was all that had kept him going. They hadn't been lovers, not at all, but they had been all that they had left for each other, everything else had either been destroyed or got lost in the raging war . They had been each others rock, nothing less, nothing more.

His eyes closed with another heavy sigh, he missed her so much. It was almost unthinkable that she wasn't here with him, they'd been through hell together, but now... Her existance was nothing more then a distant memory. A memory he slowly was beginning to forget.

The pain he felt physically was nothing with what he felt in his heart. It was like an always present kunai, that drove itself deeper with every lie, every second he was happy in his new life. How many times hadn't he thought about staying, about letting go of his past. For his whole life he'd been running, fleeing, fighting, he had every right to stay and be happy now, right? But then why.. Why did it feel so wrong to even think about it? He didn't understand, or maybe.. he didn't want to understand. Maybe he didn't want to make the choice between his family and friends. Was it wrong to think like that? He didn't know what to feel anymore.

"Akio?"

The teens head shot up, but he regretted the movement immediatly as a soaring pain ran through his body.

'Alright, moving? Bad idea.'

"How do you feel?"

Akio gave the blond a small smile. "I've never been bet-"

A sigh interupted him and he looked up in confusion. Minato let out another sigh and gave him a pained look. "I thought we trusted each other enough to at least tell me the truth of how you feel."

The teen was ready to reply, but a glare from the man shut him up again. "You're obviously not fine, I'm even surprised you're awake already."

'Nothing strange about that, healing fast is in my blood, kinda..'

"How long have I been out?"

"Long enough for us to finish your mission." A new voice jumped in and Akio turned his head to the side, only to see a grey haired ninja leaning against the wall.

"Kakashi? What are you doing here?"

"Doing the job you're supposed to do, you've messed up pretty bad."

Minato gave the grey haired teen a dissaproving glare and turned to Akio again. "He's our backup."

Akio shot up from his bed, suddenly afraid that something had gone wrong with the seal. A gasp escaped him as the pain cought up to him and he clutched his sides with gritted teeth. Minato immediatly jumped forward and laid a hand gently on the teens back.

"Take it easy now, you've been through a lot."

But he couldn't take it easy now, lives were on stake. He still had to think of a plan B for when plan A were to fail. And taking everything into account, he really was going to need it. After all, what was the chance that he would cross paths with one of the sanin, now that there was a war going on.

The raven haired teen took a deep breath and held his shirt on the place of his heart with a thrembling hand. "This.. Is nothing."

No, he defenitely had to keep going, or everything would've been in vain.

His eyes met Kakashi's, the determination clearly visible. "Nothing at all."

Tension rose as the two glared at each other, why? The blonde had no idea, but he broke the tension by pushing Akio back down in the bed. Then he sat down in a chair beside him.

"You're not ready to be walking around just yet. You've been out for a week and to tell you the truth, we'd expected you to be for at least another one."

The teen turned to stare at the ceiling. "That long huh..."

Minato narrowed his eyes a bit and leaned forward. "We have to talk, Akio."

Akio sighed and closed his eyes. "Thought as much." Moving a bit he sat himself up against his pillow, totally ignoring the glare the older man sent him. "What do you want to know?"

"Everything."

"Thats.. A lot.."

For a second a silence spread into the room and Akio fidgeted nervously with the cover of his bed. "Are you mad at me?"

The question surprised Minato, but he immediatly softened his expression. "Of course I'm not. I'm proud of you, Akio. You've not only defeated a tailed beast on your own, but you've caused the sand village to accept the peace treaty."

A smile appeared on the teens face, but made soon place for a worried one. "And the seal?"

The blond smiled warmly. "Works. That was actually one of my questions. Could you tell me about it?"

"It's a bit hard to explain how it works. Originally it's just a basic elemental seal, but I changed it so it's a lot stronger now. The main thing is that you summon a dragon from every affinity. After that you must ensure that they'll merge. At first it didn't work at all, then I thought about it to make them merge with my chakra. For the rest I don't really know how it works. This was the first time I've tried it and even now I don't really understand it."

Minato and Kakasahi shared a look before they turned back to the teen again. "The golden dragon was your chakra, wasn't it?"

The teen nodded slowly, hoping they wouldn't question him further about his chakra. Fortunately the blonde dropped it and asked him something else instead.

"How do you know sage jutsu?"

'Back to the chakra, back to the chakra!' This was in no way a better question, but.. he just had to give him an answer right?

"I learned it."

Minato sweatdropped and gave him a sad look. "Listen Akio, you can trust me, whatever it is you don't want to tell me, I can help you with it, but then I do have to know what it is."

He wanted to tell, he really did, but is there any way to tell someone their student is going to die, but then again not and is instead causing the forth shinobi war, without making him seem like a total idiot? No of course there wasn't. They'd think he was out of his mind and needed some serious help. He'd be tied down into the interrogation room, again, and this time it wouldn't be Sarutobi who questioned him.

No, he couldn't let that happen. He needed to be there when Obito was going to die, if he could save him, the whole war shouldn't take place. If only he knew when it would happen.. The only clue he had was that Kakashi and Rin had been the only one there. But what did that mean? Did they get seperated from Minato on a mission?

"So the brat's finally awake, huh?"

Akio almost choked in his breath when he heard the voice and he could swear that his heart had stopped for a second.

He knew that voice all to well. Green eyes slowly rose until they met with black ones.

"Something wrong kid? You look like you've seen a ghost."

Those sandals, white hair, the red cloak, it was unmistakable. A ghost? No. A supposedly dead person? Defenitely. But why was he here? Had Minato.. His eyes focused on the blonde who didn't look surprised to see the man at all. A thought crossed his mind. Maybe he didn't need a plan B after all.

The teen ignored the soaring pain and sat up, his black locks covering the emotions in his eyes as he clenched a handful of blankets in his fists. A small smile was visible on his face.

"It's nice to see you again, pervy sage." He looked up with a bright smile as stars shone in his eyes. "How are the women coming along?"

Two pair of eyes turned to the teen and then to the older man. Confusion was written on the blonds face as he turned around. "Jiraiya-sensei, I didn't know you and Akio knew each other."

Jiraiya blinked a few times and stared then angrily at Akio. "Oh I know him alright. The brat bumped into me when I was on my way to waterfall and because of him, I had to postpone my research."

Akio let out a snort. "You were peeping on girls in the bushes with your sticking head out, it's not my fault they saw you when I walked by."

The older man frowned. "You haven't changed one bit, you're still the same naïef brat that you were when I met you. Always questioning my research."

The teen knew better then to reply on this one, it wouldn't be the first they'd talked hours about it and that was the last thing he wanted. Shaking his head with a small smile he sighed.

"It really has been a long time, hasn't it? You must be shocked to see me like this after two years."

"Oh, not at all, I always thought you'd end up in the hospital without me there to save your sorry ass."

"Watch what your saying old men, this sorry ass can kick yours anytime."

It showed only for a second, but Minato saw it clearly. The sparkle in the boys eyes, it was like something precious had returned to the teen. And this wasn't the first time he'd noticed it. It had taken a couple of months, but now, he finally saw the result. The broken man he'd met the first time, was but a shadow from the teen in front of him. The kid was like the sun, a never ending source of light and it took more then a war to take him out.

"In your dreams, Hatake!"

Blue eyes looked up and the blondes heart warmed at the sight of the two bickering teens. Akio hadn't been the only one to open up, Kakashi had opened up a lot too. Sure, he still was cold sometimes, but he wasn't talking about the rules all the time and on a special occasion, he even laughed.

"I've finished the mission, so I get the money."

"You haven't finished anything, your just holding my spot until I'm ready to go again."

"That's not what the mission report says."

It had been a whole since he'd seen amusement in the young Hatake's eyes. He thought back at the time Kakashi's father was found when a voice interupted him.

"A special kid indeed."

Minato looked sideways and saw jiraiya standing beside him. "Even though the people he cared about are dead, he still keeps the same damn smile on his face."

The blondes eyes focused on the teen again. "You know what happened to him?"

"No, I can only guess, but whatever happened, it wasn't a tea party, that's for sure."

"Is he-?"

"Faking everything? You know as well as I do what war does to people, Minato. Even if it's over, you'll never be the same again. What kind of burden he's carying around with him, I don't know, but it's there alright, it's always there."

The blonde looked sideways again. "Something has happened, hasn't it?"

Jiraiya's lips curled into a smile. "Is it that obvious?"

"I can hear in your voice that something's wrong."

A sigh beside him let him know that he was right. "You always were the smart one. I've gotten a letter from rain."

"Rain? Why?"

"You remember the three kids I'd told you about a couple of years ago? It seems they'd started a group called the Akatsuki to deal with all the problems in Rain. Hanzo found out and ordered a full bataljon to attack. There were no survivors."

Minato's eyes hardened as he turned around to look out of the window. "Are you sure?"

"I haven't heard from them for a while."

A silence spread and for a second the two man were at loss why, until they caught two pair of eyes staring at them. Jiraiya cleared his troat awkwardly and turned to his blonde student. "Could you leave us alone for a second?"

Minato nodded silently and gave Kakashi a nudge to the door. The tension rose as the two made it to the door and as soon as it closed, the sanin turned to Akio, his eyes dangerously narrowed.

"Who in Kami's name are you?"

* * *

><p>Next time in 'A new beginning':<p>

More answers, the return to the leave and a deathly mission.


	10. Author note

Hey guys

I wanna say a couple of things.

First, I wanna thank everyone for reading my story! And I'm really happy to hear that you like it.

Second, I've almost finished the next chapter, it was a hard one, because I wanted it to be great to read.

And then the third and most important thing.

I'm going to have to make the hard descision of putting my rabbit down, so yeah..

I'm not going to write for a while, I'm sorry.

I don't know when I'll start again, but It will be soon.

I hope you keep reading if I do post another chapter.

goodbye!


	11. Bonds are to be hold close

Hey guys

So, I'm not fully back, but at least I want to post this chapter, after all it was almost done.

I hope you like it!

* * *

><p>"Who in Kami's name are you?"<p>

In his whole life he'd encountered many scary things. He'd been captured by people who wanted the nine tails from his body. He'd been tortured by the enemy as his friends fell one by one, he'd been beaten to a near death state while he was younger, countless of times. But never, had he been this scared to answer a question as simple as this one.

His body thrembled from fear as he looked straight into two dangerously narrowed eyes. He knew he had to choose his words carefully, for he wasn't dealing with the ambitious Jiraiya, no, he was looking at none other then the sanin whose name was known worldwide and right now that same man held the teens life in his hands. Would he give even one wrong answer, there was no doubt he'd find himself tied up in a matter of seconds, without being able to clarify himself.

Sure, be it any other day, he may have been able to beat him. But, as exhausted as he was it was obvious he wouldn't even last a second. Jiraiya took a threatening step closer as his eyes narrowed a bit more. No, he defenitely wouldn't last a second. The teen knew the look in the older man's eyes like the back of his yard. 'Take one wrong move and you die.'

He was sure that his companion knew how he was feeling, there was no way he could've hide it for the man. His heart was beating like crazy, but his appearance didn't show a thing as he began to sit straight up.

Akio slowly lifted his right hand to his head, closely followed by a pair of eyes.

"I'm not going to ask you again, Kid. Tell me who you are or I'll make you."

The teen let out a soft chuckle as he held his hair from touching his forehead. "You haven't changed one bit, you're stil as wary as ever of strangers."

The man's eyes left the teens hand for a second to stare at him. "You're talking as if I know you. And those things you said earlier.-"

"You know, there is this story about a young ninja who's on a special mission to save the world. I don't really remember it that well, but I believe there was a quote like this: 'I'm going to break that curse one day. If there is such a thing as piece, I will find it, I won't give up.'"

Jiraiya completely missed the words 'henge seal: release' as he stared wide eyed at the now changing teen. Black locks slowly turned into bright blonde ones while they grew a bit longer. Three whisker like marks appeared on each cheek and curled upwards as Akio smiled while he lowered his hand in his lap, his eyes covered by the shadow of his bangs.

"You know the name of the ninja, don't you?"

The older man let out an almost unnoticeble gasp as his eyes widened even further. "Naruto.."

The teen turned to him and eyes as blue as the sea met his. "I am Naruto Namikaze, son of the yondaime hokage and future rokudaime of the hidden leaf, but you might know me better as the child of prophecy, after all, you always told me I was the one."

Jiraiya was at loss for words. All kind of thoughts ran through his mind as he stared at the blonde, but strangely, none of them involved the kid as a spy. Something in the blonde's eyes made him believe every word he said. But he was as wary as he was strong, he had to know for sure.

"Why should I believe you?"

Naruto had expected the question and closed his eyes. "Because you have to, for Nagato."

"How do you know Nagato?"

"It doesn't matter right now, what matters is that there's still time to save him. Whatever you've been told, it's a lie. It's true that the Akatsuki have been murdered by Hanzo, but both Konan and Nagato have survived."

Filled with new hope the man's expression turned softer. "What about Yahiko?"

The blonde shook his head and let out a sigh. "I don't know much about him, but from what I've been told he died while trying to protect his friends."

Jiraiya's expression hardened again. "Prove that you are who you say you are."

Naruto opened his eyes and gazed at him while gathering a bit of nature energy, his eyes turning yellow for a slight second. "I've learned sage jutsu from Fukasaku himself and I'm able to do the Rasengan, isn't that proof enough that I really am from the future?"

"It isn't, there's no way to control space and time like that."

"Isn't that exactly how the Hirashin works?"

"That's different, the Hirashin needs seals to be able to use it and is only able to go from one place to another in a matter of seconds. You're talking about more then ten years, you'd at least need the chakra of a tailed beast to do that and there's no way that a brat like you could-"

"Nine tails."

"I'm sorry?"

"I have the nine tails sealed inside of me."

"It can't be, the nine tails is already sealed inside of someone else."

"Kushina Uzumaki, she's my mother."

The older man's face paled. "But that means-"

"Yes, at the end of this year she will die, but she isn't the only one. A lot of people are going to die and I want to prevent that. Please, I know that I'm asking a lot of you, but I need to set things right."

Jiraiya sighed and rubbed in his eyes. "Alright, I'm not saying that I believe you, but if it's true that something bad is going to happen.." He trailed of and looked up. "What do you need me to do?"

Naruto lightened up immediatly and new hope was visible in his eyes as he began to explain. "I need you to continue our play. That way I can at least use sage jutsu, the rasengan is too risky. And I need you to do something important."

"Like what?"

"Find Nagato and convince him to be our ally, we're really going to need his strength."

A wave of sadness ran over him as memories flashed before his eyes. It was a huge risk to send Jiraiya, after all, Nagato had killed him once already, there was no way in telling how the red haired would react, but it was something that needed to be done. Having a Rinnegan user on his side would only make things better.

"Are you alright?"

Woken up from his thoughts, the teen looked up with a sad smile. "I'm fine."

The man nodded once and turned around. "If that's all, I'm going to start looking for them."

"Actually there are two more things I wanted to ask you. Why did you play along with me in front of Minato and Kakashi?"

Jiraiya turned his head and gave him a stoic look. "Because my guts told me it was the right thing to do."

Naruto leaned back against the end of his bed and gave him a serious look. "Your guts always were right. As for the second question. I need you to let me sign my name on the toad summon scroll."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxXXxxxxxXxxxxxxx

"You're late, Akio, we were supposed to be on our way half an hour ago."

Minato began to turn around as the annoyed voice of one of his students entered his mind.

"Shut up, Kakashi. I was ready two hours ago, it's not my fault that I'm late."

Kakashi turned around too and both men sweat dropped at the sight. Akio gave an apologizing smile and looked down. "She jumped me out of nowhere an hour ago and hasn't let go since. I tried talking to her, but it didn't work, she won't even listen to her father."

A smile appeared on the blonde man's face as he made his way to Akio and crouched in front of the girl that was clinging at the teens leg like it was her most prescious belonging.

"What's wrong, Temari?"

A pair of teary eyes looked up and met his. "I don't like you, you're taking Akio nii-chan away from me."

Kakashi let out a sigh and folded his arms against his chest. "It doesn't matter how much you want him to stay, he can't. He's a ninja of the Leaf, not of the Sand. It's better you just forget all about him."

The little girl let out a small sob as new tears gathered. "But.. I don't want to.. forget."

Minato shot the grey haired teen an angry glare before he lifted his hand to ruffle through the girl's hair. "Of course you won't have to forget him, but Kakashi's right about one thing, Temari. Akio is a ninja from the leaf, he can't just stay, even if he wanted to, he has duties to go back to. And not only that, he has a family there, it's his home."

Akio looked down at the blonde and gave him a confused look, but the man just smiled at him and got to his feet. "It's really time to go now, or we won't make it back in time for Kakashi's test."

A loud sob cut through the air and Akio's heart almost broke in two as he felt the hold on his leg increasing. "Temari, please don't cry, I'm sure that we'll see each other again."

A silence filled the air when finally two big brown eyes looked up. "P-promise?"

The teen smiled and kneld down as Temari finally seized her hold on his leg a bit. "I promise." He laid his hand on her head and looked her in the eyes. "And I _always_ keep my promises."

Temari suddenly jumped forward and gave him a bear hug. "I'll mis you."

Akio didn't waste any seconds and hugged her back just as tightly. "I'll mis you too, keep training like you do and you'll become a powerful kunoichi someday." A bit hesitant he let go of her and got to his feet. "Say goodbye to Sasori for me when he comes home. Tell him that... Whatever he is looking for, he won't find it on his own."

The girl nodded sadly and waved at him as he began to back away. "I'll never forget, that's a promise!"

The teen smiled, turned around and raised his hand into air as he started to walking.

It had been a long time since he felt this happy. In the two weeks he had been in sand he'd found new hope and nothing could take that away from him now. It was true that he didn't know what kind of future there was going to be and that if it was a bad one it'll all be his fault, but he'd started this now and he wouldn't stop until everything was finished. He made too much promises to be able to back down now.

The teen looked back one time smiled. He sure was going to miss that place, but.. Turning around again he shook his head ones and followed his teammates. He had a feeling that things were going to change. Something big was going to happen and his guts told him it wouldn't be pretty, but whatever was going to happen, he was ready for it. Failing was not an option.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxXxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

_"Minato here, is everything okay?"_

_"We've got him surrounded, but it doesn't look good."_

_"Just hold on a little bit longer, a second team is on their way."_

_"Don't bother old man, they won't make it in time."_

_"You."_

_"Surprised?"_

_"Where is the team I send after you?"_

_"Let's say they're sleeping..."_

_"What are you trying to accomplish, Akio?"_

_"I thought I'd made myself pretty clear by now." _

"It's just a normal check-up, there's nothing to be afraid of."

Akio's head shot up and he glanzed backwards nervously. 'Hirashin' Throwing his borrowed radio to the side he got to his feet and stared at the blonde. "Don't you think it's a bit unfair to use the Hirashin on me?"

Minato gazed at the people at the teen's feet and looked back at him again. "Did you really have to knock them out?"

"Were you going to let me go if I hadn't?"

"No"

"Then, yes."

The blonde let out a tired sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose. "You're being childish."

"Well, you're the one who sends other people to do your dirty work."

"I'm here aren't I?"

"Yeah and it was nice seeing you, but you can go now."

"Only if you're going to the check-up."

"No."

"You're exaggarating things, it's just a normal check-up, I'll treat you to ramen after you're done."

Akio took a step backwards and folded his arms. "Are you seriously trying to bribe me here? That's just low."

"Place yourself in my shoes for once, I don't really have a choice."

Akio rolled with his eyes and took another step back. "And now he's going all victim on me. You know. You could just give up."

"I could, but where would that leave me? And you know, I'm not one to give up easily."

For a second Akio didn't know what to say. Even though he never knew his father until a couple of years ago, he was so much like him. It made him wonder, if he had been raised by his parents, would he have been the same person?

"I don't get it, you were on the frontlines, you've had check-ups before, right?"

The warm voice snapped him out of his thoughts and he shook his head once. "Of course I have. You've got it all wrong, it's not the checkups I'm running away from, it's the people."

Minato's eyes widened at this and he took a step closer. "What do you mean?"

The teen turned around and ran a hand through his hair as an irritated sigh escaped him. "Listen, it's not a big deal. Things happened when I was a kid and needed a checkup, I've never liked hospitals since. My teammate was a medical ninja, she did all the checkups so I didn't have to go to to the hospital and even if I had to go, she was always the one to treat me."

His eyes went wide when he realized what he was saying. Turning around with a forced smile he waved with his hands. "I mean, the people there are always so serious and.. fake.. and.. I'll just shut up now.."

Green eyes focused on the ground, carefully avoiding the blonde's gaze, but he could feel the man staring at him. It wasn't that he didn't want to talk about it, it was just that, everytime he did, it seemed easier. He was getting closer and closer every day, making his resolve to save the future waver. He gritted his teeth and clenched his hands into fists.

'It isn't fair, how am I supposed to kno-'

'Let me ask you a question.'

'Kurama..?'

'Do you wish to stay here?'

'I..I don't know..'

'Then you don't want to see your friends again?'

'Of course I want to see them again!'

'Al right then, let me ask you one more question. What kind of idiot made you the hokage?! If you want to see your friends again, stop wasting time and make it happen!'

'It's not that simple!'

A loud growl made him wince. 'It's only as hard as you make it!'

"I'm sorry."

"Maybe you're rig- wait wat?"

Thrown of guard and a bit confused Akio stared at the blonde.

"I had no idea you avoided the hospital for that kind of reason, I'm sorry I pushed you."

The teen rose an eyebrow and unfolded his arms. "What made you say sorry all of a sudden?"

Minato sat down and looked up to the sky. "It's been awhile since you've told me something from your past. It makes me happy to know that you trust me enough to tell those things, but I don't want you to feel forced."

Shaking his head, Akio sat down beside him. "You're not forcing me at all. It's just that.. With every hour I spent here being happy, the feeling that something's wrong increases. It's like I betray my friends and everybody else I cared about."

"Sounds like your having a hard time."

"Yeah... Minato, can I ask you a question?"

"Of course, what is it?"

"Let's say that this war destroys everything you care about, without you being able to do a thing. You've almost given up living and then there's suddenly a way to make everything right again, but in the process you have to give up everything you've ever dreamed of. What would you do?"

"I would do the right thing of course."

"But how do you know what's right?"

The blonde gave him a small smile and ran a hand through his hair. "Only time can tell really, even though, on some questions, you may never find an answer. Sometimes it seems easy, like for a hokage, your answer is made up even before the problems arise, but that doesn't mean it isn't hard to live up to it. I wouldn't know what to do if I were to be in that position right now. I would make the right choice when that time comes, I'm sure, but what the right choice is going to be? I don't know."

"To know what is right and choose to ignore it is the act of a coward, huh."

"That's surely one way of putting it."

Akio chuckled softly and laid down on his back before letting out a soft sigh. "It really has been awhile sinds we had a talk like this, it's nice."

The blonde glanced at him before laying down too. "The life of a shinobi is a dangerous one, you'll never know what's going to happen and you'll always have to be on your guard, especially in times of war. There's not a lot of time to rest, but we try to make the best out of it, right?"

The teen nodded and folded his arms under his head. 'Things sure have been peaceful in the village. It's been a week since we left sand and still nothing has happened. Kakashi's in the middle of his jonin exams right now, but I know he's going to make it. After all, I know what kind of man he's going to become and it's a damn good one.

Obito and Rin are training hard together, so they won't be left behind. I understand how they feel and I think it's great, but they're not there just yet. Minato thinks that it won't take long before Obito is going to pass the jonin exams. I really like the kid, he's just like I was before the war, but I know that it takes more then sheer will power to become a great ninja. I've started to make preparations for Obito's death, but without a clue about when it will happen, I'm walking in the dark.

I know it's starting to seem like I've forgotten you, but I haven't. Dad is right. I'm sure I'll make the right descision when the time comes and until then I'll keep doing what I've done since I came here. You guys are watching me, aren't you? Sakura? Sasuke?'

"Do you miss your village?"

Understanding the question, Akio turned his back to the blonde and laid on his side. "A village is just a piece of ground with buildings. Without the ones you love, there's nothing to miss.. even so, I do miss it sometimes. There are so many memories I've made there and to know that it's all gone hurts, but there's nothing I can do about it."

Minato sat up a little and looked at him. "I know that we'll never be able to replace your old home, but I did mean what I said to Temari. You're a part of our family now, if you like it or not."

Akio sat up too and eyed him curiously, with one eyebrow raised. "Were you always this bossy?"

The blonde shrugged and looked away with a small smile. "If I have to."

Looking back he got up and held his hand out to the teen. "For now we can ask Rin to give you a check-up, but in return I want you to teach the two of them some Tai-jutsu moves."

Grinning widely Akio grabbed the man's hand and pulled himself up. "Deal."

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxXxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxXxxxxxxxxxxxxX

The day past by quickly. Rin had done the check-up immediatly when Minato asked her to. She looked quite shocked when she saw the scar on Akio's chest, but didn't question him about it. Of course he was completely healthy and he had to be, because tomorrow was going te be an important day. It was time for the next mission and.. to put an end to that horrible war.

* * *

><p>Next time in 'A new beginning':<p>

"You're playing nice and try to be the hero! Guess what, It's not working on me! I know you only care about yourself, so you have no right to criticize me!"

"I have every right to do so if it endangers your live!"

"I'm following all the rules and as long as I'll do that I'll be alright!"

"Rules don't really matter if you're dead!"


	12. A welcoming change

Hey guys!

I'm sorry it took so long, it's been a crazy couple of weeks.

And I had a really bad writers block :(

I knew exactly what I wanted to write, but not how.

But I'm finally back, can't say fully though, writer blocks tend to stick for quite some time, but the larger lines are already set!

Enjoy this chapter and please review!

* * *

><p>"Look, Akio! That cloud's shaped like a turtle!"<p>

"That's definitely not a turtle, Rin, it's a toad."

"Turtle."

"Toad."

Rin turned to him and placed both of her hands on each side of his check as she looked seriously into his eyes. "I thought I gave you a thorough check-up yesterday, hmm, must have missed something."

For a second Akio froze, but as soon as he saw the grin on the girl's face he eased and pushed her away with a small pout. "That wasn't nice."

The brunette chuckled and leaned her back against his. "Aren't you always the one who's telling me to ease up a little?"

Akio turned his gaze to Minato and he gave the blond a wink. "Ease up, yeah, but that was just right out mean."

The girl let out a nervous laugh and turned her head to her sensei, but instead of helping her out the man just shook his head and gave her a small smile. "It was a bit uncalled for."

Now really worried that she'd hurt her friend's feelings, she jumped up, causing him to fall on his back, and turned to him. "I'm so sorry, Akio. I really didn't mean it, I just-"

A laugh interrupted her and soon got joined by another one. Rin glanced at both man and she sweatdropped when it dawned on her. "You tricked me."

Akio wanted to reply something, but a monotone voice interrupted him. "It's your own fault for letting them get to you, Rin. You're making it way to easy."

The laughing stopped completely and Rin turned her eyes to the ground while biting her lip in frustration. Green eyes hardened. The raven haired teen knew about Rin and her love for Kakashi, after all, Rin was like an open book. She wasn't one to have a secret. Normally he would've stayed out of it too, but the fact that Kakashi knew that Rin loved him, but ignored it like it was nothing, made him mad. He got to his feet and glared at the grey haired teen. "You should try and be a little nicer to Rin, Kakashi."

"Why should I?"z

"Are you really that blind? She's doing her best to show you what she's capable of and you're turning her down like she's a burden to everything you do! That's not how you treat a friend and you know it."

"How I treat people is my decision, not yours."

"Why you-!"

A loud thud sounded and the teen looked down in surprise at the figure covered in dirt at his feet. Said person looked up with hopeful eyes, totally ignorant of the heavy tension hanging in the air. "Did I make it?"

"No, you're late, Obito."

Reminded of his anger towards the grey haired ninja, Akio gritted his teeth, turned his back to the two teens and sat on the ground with his arms folded across his chest. 'That damn brat, I'm going to beat some sense into him someday.'

Obito smiled apologetically and Kakashi bowed forward, leaning his hands on his knees. "What, did you forget what time we were supposed to meet? When you're a full-fledged shinobi, you're expected to follow all the rules and regulations."

The young Uchiha changed into a sitting position and began to dust himself off. "Well, I was on my way, but a feeble old lady with these heavy bags asked me for directions and I mean, I got something in my eye and.."

"If you're going to lie, at least make up a good one."

The two teens glared at each other and Minato turned to them. "Alright Kakashi, that's enough, I'm sure Obito showed her the way to go. Obito, right?"

Obito laughed and ran a hand through his hair. "And carried her bags."

Kakashi turned to the blonde man and gave him a disapproving glare. "You're too nice, Minato-sensei. Everytime Obito's late he says he stopped to help some needy person."

There was not even a hint of emotion as the teen continued. "Ninja who break the rules and laws are regarded as nothing but scum, isn't that right?"

Akio's head shot up at the familiar sentence and for a second -even though the last part was missing- he didn't feel so alone anymore. And although it was not the famous copy ninja, but his younger version who said the words, it did remind him of what kind of man the teen was going to become.

"Alright, let's just calm down you guys, we're all in the same team remember?"

Rin's warm voice snapped him out of his thoughts and he got to his feet, while letting out a soft sigh. "Rin's right. We have an important mission to complete, we're going to have to trust each other, so stop arguing."

Kakashi's eyes narrowed dangerously as he glared at the older teen, but didn't make any other move.

Minato got up and walked towards them. "Now that everyone's here, I'd like to discuss some things while we're on our way."

Xxxxxxxxx

"As of today, Kakashi is a jonin, just like Akio and I are. That's why we're going to split up in two teams for this mission, that makes us more efficient. After all, the Leaf's military strength is as low as it's ever been."

By this point, Akio spaced out again. There's was just something about this mission that got on his nerves and then there was this feeling... like somebody was watching them. He shot a glance across his shoulder, but of course he didn't see anyone. Stopping for a second he turned around completely and looked to the direction they'd came from. There was nothing suspicious, just a couple of rocks in a grass field, but still.. something felt off. He took a step forward and let his eyes wander across the horizon. Slowly he covered every inch of the ground in front of him. He saw nothing out of the ordinary, but that didn't put him at ease, not at all.

Shaking his head the teen turned back and started walking with his hands stuffed into his pockets. 'Maybe I'm just seeing things.'

"Something wrong, Akio?"

The raven haired teen looked up and stopped, giving the person in front of him a questioning look. "Are you sure it's wise to split up?"

Minato smiled warmly and brought his hand up to ruffle through the teens dark locks. "I'm sure you'll take good care of them."

Akio was about to reply something when a voice interrupted him.

"What are you holding your hand out for? If you're expecting a gift from me, you can forget it!"

"That's fine, I doubt it would've been anything good anyway. Better nothing at all than a useless burden."

Both Akio and Minato let out a sigh and watched silently as Obito raised his arm and pointed at Kakashi.

"What I don't understand is how a guy like you gets to become a jonin!"

"That's amusing, coming from _you_."

Letting out another sigh, Akio shook his head disapprovingly. "They're never going to learn, are they."

The blonde beside him let out a chuckle and gave him an amusing look. "It's normal for kids their age, don't tell me you've never had these kind of fights."

The teen smiled softly and looked up. "Oh, I had them, alright."

"I am Obito Uchiha of the powerful Uchiha clan, I'll be stronger than you'll ever be! Kakashi, you just wait until my sharingan awakens!"

_"That's not the point, come on, you know that putting your headband on is a testament to fighting on equal terms as a leaf shinobi."_

_"_I thought everyone in the Uchiha clan was supposed to be elite, so you really shouldn't have to rely on that, you should be great already.

_"There you go acting all high and mighty again, you don't honestly believe we're equals."_

_"_What-!?"

_"Heck yeah I do, all this time I've never once thought that I was inferior to you in any way!"_

"Guys, stop it."

Akio's smile widened. Sakura and Rin where a lot alike, in more ways than one and that was all the more reason to protect her with his life on this mission.

Minato lowered his backpack on to the ground and grabbed something out of it. "Yes, can I explain the mission now, we don't have that much time, we're getting close to the border now."

Rolling the map out on a stone he waved his hand to usher the rest of the team closer. Completely serious now, they all took their place around the map, watching closely as the blonde pointed some things out.

"See, it's this line here. It shows where the land of Earth is currently invading the village hidden in the Grass. The enemies are shinobi from the hidden Stone and according to intel they deployed a thousand shinobi to the front lines, here."

Obito frowned. "They've advanced further than the last time."

"Well, the Grass village is situated right next to the land of Fire, we should've stepped in earlier."

Akio nodded silently, for once agreeing with the grey haired teen.

"If the hidden Stone's able to invade like this, than it must mean that they have an efficient system for reinforcement."

Green eyes met blue ones and Minato nodded reassuringly. Quickly switching into the role of a team leader, Akio pointed at something on the map. "You're right, Rin and that's where we come in. The hidden Stone's using the Kannabi bridge for save supply transportations. Our mission is to destroy that bridge and retreat afterwards. Our shinobi are spread thin, around here and here, that's why Minato is going to join them for both support and as a decoy."

The raven haired teen rose his head and looked each member of his team, except Minato, in the eye. "I'm not going to lie to you, the chance that the decoy is going to work, is extremely low. We're taking a big risk here, but if we're able to pull it off, the war _will_ be over."

Obito and Rin glanced at each other. This was the first time they'd seen their teammate this serious. They knew that he'd once been an anbu, but to see that side of him was something else.

Akio took a couple of deep breaths and came to his feet. "It's time."

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxXxxxxxxxxx

The four man team raced through the forest as fast as they could. With Akio in the front, Rin on his right, Obito on his left and Kakashi behind they traveled with their guards on sharp. Despite everything that could go wrong, Akio felt calm. This was what he'd waited for all these months. To be able to do something now, to finally be able to change things for the better, he was more than ready for it.

He couldn't help but smile as a presence appeared in front of him. Giving a short signal to his subordinates he dashed forward to give their guest a greeting. Jumping higher and higher in the trees he hid between the leafs and looked around. His teammates had taken their position and were waiting for his signal to advance.

Looking down to the direction of their target, his eyes widened in shock. "No.. It can't..."

"It's no use hiding from me, I know you're there."

Akio shook his head and jumped to the ground, his teammates watching him with surprise and shock as he stopped just behind their target.

The teen eyed the man in front of him with weary eyes. 'There's no way it's really him.'

Enclosing his hand on a kunai he took a step closer. 'It can't be him.'

The man in front of him moved to turn around, but Akio jumped forward and stopped him with a hiss, his kunai dangerously close to cutting the man's skin. "Take one more step and you die." 'It's not him.'

Tension grew a silence filled the air, but not even a couple of seconds later it got broken by a harsh laugh.

The man turned around completely and Akio took a huge jump backwards as his heart dropped into his stomach. Every muscle in his body tensed up, ready for any kind of attack.

"Ku ku ku, is this the proper way to greet an old friend, Kitsune?"

By now, the teen knew that his worst nightmare just had come true. Flashing his eyes to the side he hoped, begged, that the rest of the team understood the sign. There was no way they'd survive this if it would come to a fight. But their presence didn't disappear, instead it seemed to get even closer. Narrowing his eyes he focused his attention back to the man, or rather, creature in front of him. Maybe he could talk them out of this.

"I have to apologize, I had no idea you saw me as a friend, especially since you tried to kill me last time we saw each other, Orochimaru."

Two gasps could be heard from the trees and Akio had to hold himself in to not kick their buts right there and then.

Unfortunately, the two gasps hadn't been missed by Orochimaru either and he shot a short glance in their direction. "You thought..? Oh my, what a horrible misunderstanding. I was merely trying to get to know you better, Kitsune-kun."

"Really?" The teens eyes narrowed as his chakra began to surround him and waves of killer intent got send to his surroundings. "Then tell me, Orochimaru, was you killing innocent people right in front of my eyes, also a misunderstanding?" His voice was filled with pure hatred as he spoke and his subordinates felt a shiver running down their spine.

The hated man in question just smiled and waved lazily with his hand. "Details."

Akio placed his hands into a seal and spoke up, his voice dangerously low. "Kakashi, I want you to take the rest of the team and run. Go as far as you can and don't look back!"

He was just in time to avoid the in coming attack and the teen let out a frustrated sound as he blocked the next one with his kunai.

"No, we have a mission to complete."

"Forget the mission! You have neither the skill nor the experience to take this guy on, just go!"

A rain of shuriken drove Orochimaru back and Akio quickly made use of the situation and summoned five shadow clones, who dashed forward, kunai in hand.

The real Akio turned his head and glared at the team that was standing beside him Now.

"I order you to stay out of this fight, you're not ready."

"We're both jonin, the same level, I can handle myself in battle."

Akio eyed the grey haired teen. "No you can not, this is a sannin we're talking about and no matter what way you look at it, you can't beat him, nor protect the others. Stop being so naïve and think about your teammates for once!"

Kakashi's eyes narrowed as he glared at the older teen. "You know what? I'm sick of you and your games. You're playing nice and try to be the hero! Guess what, It's not working on me! I know you only care about yourself, so you have no right to criticize me!"

"I have every right to do so if it endangers your live!"

"I'm following all the rules and as long as I'll do that I'll be alright!"

"Rules don't really matter if you're dead!"

If the situation had been different, the look on the young teens face would've been amusing, hilarious even, but there was no time for that now. The last shadow clone just disappeared and there was one murderous looking sannin approaching them, fast.

Cursing loudly he pushed the three out-of-the-way and ducked just in time to avoid, what would have been a lethal blow. Instead of impaling his heart, the kunai buried itself deep into his right shoulder.

"Akio!"

Ignoring the pain he grabbed the wrist holding the kunai and twisted it painfully while kicking the man in the knees. Orochimaru let out a hiss and jumped backwards, his tongue running over his lips in fascination.

"A worthy opponent indeed."

Akio gritted his teeth as he pulled the kunai out and threw it on to the ground. A soft gasp escaping him as he covered the wound with his hand.

Footsteps echoed in the forest as Rin made her way to the teen to heal him, but a voice stopped her. "Don't."

Rin looked up, her eyes begging him to let her heal him, but the teen just shook his head.

"This is nothing." Wiping some blood of the wound he made some hand signs and placed his hand on to the ground. With a small amount of smoke two foxes appeared, one of them dark black with silver/white eyes, the other had a coat of orange, black and grey. And while the darker's fox gaze was focused on Orochimaru, the other one was staring at the wounded teen, its yellow eyes full with worry.

"I'm fine, Mayu. Just watch over my team, protect them with your life."

He turned to the darker fox while covering his wound with his hand again. "Nirai, you know what to do." The fox nodded and disappeared, leaving only a spark of lightning behind.

"Sending you pets out to ambush me again? Haven't you learned anything from our last encounter?"

The two ninja began to circle around each other, kunais readied in their hands.

"You know as well as I do that my foxes are more than just mere pets."

Orochimaru suddenly flicked with his wrist and threw the kunai to his opponent. The teen smiled as he watched the object flying towards him. With a simple step to the side he avoided it and jumped forwards to counter attack. But a sudden pain in his stomach made him cry out. Looking downwards, his eyes widened in shock as he noticed a kunai sticking out of his abdomen. Green eyes widened further as he fell to his hands and knees and began to cough up blood. Taking a couple of deep breaths he pulled the kunai out and inspected the wound, after that he looked up, the confusion clearly written on his face. 'I was sure I dodged that one.'

Only when he gave the inflicted wounds another look it dawned on him. Something was wrong, the wounds weren't healing as fast as they normally would, infect, they didn't seem to be healing at all. His sight began to blur and for a second he seemed to space out.

"Akio!"

"Not feeling so good, huh? You are skilled I have to admit, but as you can see, you're not undefeatable. You've underestimated me by thinking I hadn't learned anything from our last encounter." He knelt down beside the teen and licked his lips hungrily. "What you're feeling now are the effects of the poison that's entered your body. It's purpose is to numb all the muscles in the human body, one by one, making it a slow but painful death. It's working quite well, don't you agree?"

The teen gritted his teeth as he got to his feet again. 'Kurama.'

'My chakra doesn't work on it, I won't be able to counter it completely, but I can try to slow it down. Whatever you're going to do, you gotta do it quickly, soon you won't be able to move anymore.'

Akio frowned. 'It will take Nirai at least five minutes to return and Orochimaru isn't one to underestimate. My senses are already going numb, so going into sage mode won't be an option, I might lose control.'

He glanced to his side and noticed that his team was still there, two of the three were shaking, yes, but they were there. Should he risk it? No.. He wasn't one to bring his comrades into danger if it wasn't necessary. He had to do something else, something like...

Running a hand through his hair he smiled wryly at the sannin, who grinned sadistically at him. "To tell you the truth, I'd hoped I wouldn't have to use this, but since you leave me no choice, I have to step things up. Let me tell you something about myself that you don't know."

He wiped some blood from the corner of his mouth and placed his hands on to the ground. "It's true that I'm an anbu operative as well as a jonin who's in possession of a legendary summon, but I've never said they were my only one. You see, I had the privilege to not only train with one of the sannin, but to surpass him as well! Let's end this, Gamabunta!"

Orochimaru's eyes went wide as the clearing suddenly filled itself with smoke. The ground shook heavily and the sannin had to jump up as chunks of earth were thrown at him. Hissing in anger he dashed forward, straight into the slowly disappearing cloud of smoke. "Using the smoke as a cover for your escape won't work. I might not be able to see you, but I can still smell you!"

"I assure you, I have no intentions of running away."

Orochimaru turned around and grinned widely as Akio became visible and his smile only got wider as he noticed that the teen's left arm seemed to be hanging. "Getting your teammates out of harm by sacrificing yourself, a brave but foolish decision."

Akio didn't reply, he just stared at the sannin, filling his eyes with as much hatred as he could, while still keeping his cool. Again, the man's grin widened further and he raised his hand. The teen didn't even blink as a black snack made its way to him from the man's sleeve, even when the creature began to encircle his troat, he never lost eye contact with the man in front of him.

Orochimaru's grin faded and turned into a small frown. "Aren't you afraid?"

Green eyes glared at him. "I'm not afraid to die."

A hoarse laugh pierced the silence. "Of course you're not, you're a shinobi, dying is just a part of your everyday li-"

"Then why ask?"

"You interest me, Kitsune, or should I call you Akio? Your appearance is that of a kid and yet, your actions speak of years of experience. You care enough about your comrades to help them escape and yet you wouldn't regret dying. Tell me, what goes through your mind right now?"

"Life is just a meaningless words if you've got nothing to live for. It's not as easily granted as it is to throw away, but that doesn't seem to matter now, it's kill or be killed. I can't accept that, I don't want to, I'd rather die then to continue with these meaningless war."

"I see, well, in time I'd be happy to grant your wish, but you're too valuable for me to die right away."

Akio closed his eyes and smiled inwardly. In this timeline luck seemed to be on his side and it was a welcoming change. Things didn't go as planned, true, but this was maybe even better.

Or so he thought...

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><p>Next time in 'A new beginning': Feelings exposed<p> 


	13. Feelings exposed

Another chap!

Have fun reading!

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><p>"Sorry kid, no can do."<p>

"You have to! Akio's all alone out there, we need to help him!"

"Listen brat, if you don't stop complaining I'll-"

"This is far enough, Gamabunta, thank you."

The giant toad snorted ones before stopping and lowering the people in his paws gently on the ground. Than he looked at the fox in front of him and nodded slowly. "Take care, Mayu."

The fox nodded back before turning around to look at the rest of the team as Gamabunta disappeared with a small amount of smoke.

"We _need_ to go back." Obito's low whisper could be barely heard by his other teammates, but Mayu heard it loud and clear. Her expression softened as she eyed the teen. Tears had gathered in his eyes as he stared at the ground, his hands clenched into fists.

The fox shook her head slowly and took a step towards him. "I'm sorry, young one, but we can't go back. Please try to understand, he did this for your sakes."

A soft thud could be heard and Mayu looked to the side as Rin collapsed on her knees, her hands covering her face. Her whole body was shaking as she tried to contain her sobs. Obito immediately came in to action and ran to her, his own tears forgotten. "Rin..."

"Why... We could have escaped together.."

"Because in the end, he's just like me." All heads raised and they watched in silence as the grey haired teen came closer, until Obito broke it. "What do you mean?"

Kakashi stopped right in front of them and looked down. "It's better to die as a hero than to continue living as a coward."

Mayu's eyes narrowed dangerously as the jonin continued. "We have a mission to complete. I'll be the one in charge since I'm the only jonin here. It's going to be dark in about two hours, we can still make it, but we have to leave now."

For a second, Obito just stared at him, unable to believe that the teen was really saying this, but as it dawned on him that he was absolutely serious, anger caught up to him. He was just about to speak up as Rin suddenly came to her feet and did the unbelievable.

She slapped Kakashi across his cheek, hard.

"Who cares about that stupid mission?! Don't you understand?! Akio just gave his life to save us, _us _and _you_... How can you even say that about him?! He's the nicest and most loyal person I know, he would never think something as twisted as that!"

Seconds passed by and Kakashi did nothing more than stare at the kunoichi. He was still processing that the girl who had loved him for as long as he could remember, had just slapped him. And the slapping part itself didn't bother him, but the fact that he hadn't seen it coming did. She'd caught him off guard and he didn't like that one bit. Without thinking about the consequences he did what he'd always had done: protecting himself by stating the facts.

"If he's so great, than maybe you should have loved him instead of me."

Anyone could've seen the next thing coming, anyone except Kakashi. And not because he thought she didn't dare to do it again, but because he finally realized that he'd gone too far with that statement. Rin had slapped him again, and this time it had even left a red print of her hand behind. The kunoichi stared at him as she shook from anger or excitement, Obito guessed both since it was the first time he'd seen Rin angry, really angry.

Kakashi felt a shiver running down his spine and it only dawned on him why, when he looked into Rin's eyes. Sadness, determination, confusion, resentment and even guilt was visible in those orbs. Why did she feel guilty? It confused him, Rin had always been an open book, but now he couldn't read a thing and that made him nervous.

For a long twenty seconds they stared at each other, until finally Rin lowered her eyes and looked at the ground. "You were right, Obito and you've been right from the beginning. Kakashi isn't going to change and I don't think that he ever will." Abruptly she turned around and looked at the slowly setting sun. 'You were right too, Akio. It was about time I stood up for myself, I should've done it a long time ago..'

Setting her resolve she turned back and gave Kakashi a stern look while holding her hand out to the teen. "Give me the kunai Minato-sensei gave you." The teen hesitated for a moment but gave in when her stern look changed into a fully powered glare. He was just about to hand it over when a soft voice stopped him. "That won't be necessary, isn't that right, Minato Namikaze." Heads turned as Minato stepped out of the shadows and into the light, his eyes making a quick examination by running over his subordinates to make sure they weren't wounded.

When he was sure they were fine, he turned to Mayu. "What happened?"

The fox met his gaze and flicked her tail in annoyance. "Orochimaru, where's Nirai?"

"He suddenly disappeared on me, I'm guessing that has something to do with Akio not being here?"

Maya nodded and sat down, enveloping her paws with her tail. "You don't even know half of our summon, although it's true that we can stay here if we want to even if our summoner is unconscious, but the truth is that we are only as strong as our summoner. If he's down we won't be much stronger than a fresh kid that's just starting his first lesson, for our own safety we go back if that situation occurs."

"What about you?"

"I've been asked to protect these kids with my live, so I shall."

Minato nodded slowly and ran a hand through his hair as a sigh escaped him. For once he didn't know what to do, Akio had been taken by Orochimaru and was either dead or worse. Thousands of questions filled his mind. What did Orochimaru want with Akio? And why was the sannin even here? As far as he knew, Orochimaru had been on a long mission to rain. Then there still was the mission they had to complete and his team was mentally exhausted, they weren't in a state where they could fight.

"Sensei, can I say something?"

The blonde looked up and smiled softly. "Of course, Rin."

Rin nodded thankfully and took a deep breath, calming her nerves down before she spoke, her voice was soft and wavered at first but it got stronger and more determined the longer she spoke. "I want to save Akio, no that's not it.. I'm going to save Akio. If it weren't for him, I wouldn't even be here telling you this. He's our friend, no.." She shook her head slowly. "He's more than that, he's family! We have to help him, at least we owe him that much."

Minato was a bit taken aback by the determination visible in her eyes. He realized that things had changed since he'd left them. Even Kakashi seemed to be more shaken up than usual and that was saying something. But the question was: were they up to it?

"I'm going too, Akio's always been there if I needed him, I won't let him down the one time he needs me."

"That means that I'll be completing the mission on my own." As if stung by a bee, Obito turned around, his eyes blazing with anger.

"You can't be serious, you'd let him die, just like that?" Kakashi's silence only seemed to increase the Uchiha's frustration. "Saving Akio takes priority over the mission and that's that!"

"We are shinobi, we must carry out our mission even at the expense of our comrades, that's the law. If we fail, the war will drag on and more lives than just Akio's will be lost."

"But he saved you, he pushed you out of the way and took the hit himself, how can you just abandon him like this?!"

"Akio was just doing his job, like we must."

The Uchiha let out a threatening growl as he dashed forward and punched Kakashi to the ground. Kakashi's eyes widened. seriously, what was it with getting caught of guard today? Was he losing it?

"I don't like you and I never will!"

Holding one hand on his cheek, the grey haired teen got to his feet again and stared his teammate in the eye. "If you give in to your emotions, even for a moment, and fail your mission, you'll regret it sooner than you know. That's why shinobi have rules, that's why we're taught that we must suppress our emotions. You should already know that."

Obito took a couple of step backs and shook his head. "Just forget it, we'll never agree, we are like oil and water. I'm going to rescue Akio." He turned around and began his way to his other teammates who had been watching the scene unfold in silence.

"You don't understand, Obito. You don't know what happens to people who break the rules."

Stopping in his tracks, Obito clenched his hands into fists before relaxing them again. "I believe that the White Fang was a true hero. You're right in the ninja world those who break the rules and laws are regarded as scum but.." He turned his head slightly and narrowed his eyes. "Those who would abandon even one of their friends are worse than scum. I'm scum anyway, so I'm gonna choose to break the rules. If doing that somehow makes me less of a true shinobi than I'll just go and crush the so called real shinobi.

He continued walking again and a small smile played around his lips. "I might even crush you someday."

Minato was watching patiently as his best student got blown off by his rival, leaving the teen behind in shock as the Uchiha made his way to him. 'I wonder how he knows about the White Fang.' For a moment their gazes met and everything became clear to the blonde. A small smile played around his lips and he shook his head slowly. The things that person was capable off.. It was close to a miracle, but that made it all the more clear that something strange was going on. And he needed to find out what.

With a soft sigh he turned to the grey haired teen, who hadn't moved from his spot at all. "You're right, Kakashi. This mission is too important to ignore, so I'll be leaving it in your hands. I know you're a jonin and capable enough to finish this on your own, but promise me you'll retreat if things become to hectic. We'll be backing you up as soon as we have Akio. No playing the hero, understand?"

Shaking his head to get rid of his thoughts Kakashi pushed out a 'yes sensei, I understand' and jumped up in the trees to finish what he'd started while Minato turned back to the others.

"Alright team, I need you to tell me exactly what has happened, don't leave anything out, it might be a clue for something."

Rin nodded and began, determined to tell her sensei everything she could remember. "We were on our way to the bridge when..."

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"Why are you letting me go? I thought you said I was too valuable for you to let me die."

Orochimaru snorted laughingly and turned his back to the teen. "Letting you go is not the same as killing you, besides, you and I both know that you're not here as my prisoner, isn't that right, Akio-san?"

A tense silence filled the air and the sannin turned around again, a grin clearly visible on his face.

"So tell me, why did you hold back in our fight?"

"I don't know what you mean."

"Oh don't be like that, did you really think I wouldn't notice? You, the anbu with a triple s-rank and a flee on sight order by his name in the bingo book. A description that has only ever been given once. You're a true example of a perfect shinobi."

Akio smiled mockingly and tucked his head to the side while dragging a hand through his hair. "I'm truly flattered, but why don't we discuss my rank later and cut to the chase. I'm here to offer you the chance you've been waiting for."

He didn't really know how the younger Orochimaru was different from the older one. But if the stories were right, even the younger version wouldn't let such an opportunity slip away. And the look in the sannin's eyes told him he was right.

"And what would that be?"

"To capture Danzo and take his place as leader of Root."

Orochimaru's eyes narrowed in suspicion, but that didn't hide the fact that he was curious too. "That's a brave thing to ask from a Root shinobi, now why would I kill my own leader?"

"I know that you see no one as your leader but yourself. It's not a secret that you've been getting stronger and we all know what happens to those who are a threat to Danzo."

"Surely there's a big catch to an offering of this kind?"

"You're to seize you're experiments on innocent people and you'll be answering to me only. In return I'll make sure you get all the papers, space and things you need."

Orochimaru's eyes narrowed further and Akio quickly continued. "As I think you're aware of, Danzo is in possession of the sharingan, that'll give you more than enough to experiment with and I'll go talk to the Third for possible experiments on criminals with death sentences."

Akio inwardly cursed. He'd rather have the man stop all of his experiments. It wasn't right to do that do people. But right now, he had no choice but to comply or his whole plan would fail. He hated to admit it, but he needed Orochimaru maybe even more than the sannin needed him.

"And what if I accidentally kill him instead of capture him?"

The teen had to think about that for a second, killing him would mean that he didn't have to worry about the man escaping in the future, then again it also meant that if Orochimaru ever were to betray him he would have to face the sannin alone. Danzo wasn't the nicest person, no, but he had really meant for the village to be as strong as it could be. Still, it was partly his doing that'd caused the village to break down.

"Do whatever you want with him, I don't care, just make sure I won't see him again."

A big grin appeared on the sannin's face as he walked forward and met the teen's gaze. "You've certainly caught my interest, Akio-kun, but what will happen if I were to fail?"

Blue eyes narrowed as their intensity grew with every passing second. "It'll be like we've never met, I'll take all the blame on me, you have my word on that." A silence fell and neither shinobi were about to back down. They were staring at each other just as intense as in the beginning, Neither blinking nor looking away.

His doubts grew by the second. He needed Orochimaru for his plan to work, but the man in front of him didn't look like he was going to accept any time soon. After all, unlike Akio he still had a lot to lose, it would've been taken from him in time, yes, but now he had to it by choice.

He couldn't help but think that maybe his luck had run out. After all, he'd already convinced the third hokage and one of the sannin to fight by his side. Orochimaru fighting side by side with him? It seemed to good to be true, but then again, it had happened ones already. Maybe a second time wouldn't be that unthinkable.

And then Akio remember something. With an affirmative nod he turned around and made way to the door. "Be sure to take good care of the kid, will ya? He might come in handy in the future."

Leaving it at that he pushed the door open and left the room, leaving a smirking sannin behind. "It seems you were speaking the truth, Akuma-san."

A dark figure moved a bit out of the shadows as Orochimaru turned around. His never-fading grin only got bigger when a hooded person appeared.

If Akio had intrigued him than this person doubled it. The fact that he had no idea what his companion looked like made him interested, but of course there was the strong chakra pressure too. No matter what the man did, the feeling of a weight on his chest was always present. Even a sannin like himself would've had problems breathing if the man hadn't toned it down a bit. A man this strong was just to good to pass by.

Akuma shook his head slowly, making a couple of blonde locks stick out of his hood. His voice was harsh and cold as he spoke. "It was only a matter of time, he would've come to see you either way. Now the only thing we have to do is wait for our chance, just play along till then."

A red blur flew by and Akuma looked up as a yipping sound reached his ears. A small red fox made its way to the man's neck and curled around it, soft purrs could be heard as Akuma began to pat the animal's fur.

"It seems our friend is almost back with his teammates."

"Shouldn't we stop him?"

"No, we have to prepare ourselves for the plan, it won't be long now, soon we'll have what we want."

Orochimaru began to chuckle and focused his gaze on the door again. "I'm looking forward to our next meeting, Akio Furakawa, or should I say Naruto Namikaze."

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"So that's what happened."

Minato held his chin in thought while both Obito and Rin looked at the ground in shame. The blonde noticed it and smiled faintly. "Lift your heads, none of this is your fault."

The two raised their heads and Minato turned his eyes to look at the sky. Minutes had past and the sun had slowy made place for the moon. He could already see the first stars glimmering, pushing their comforting light through the clouds. Night had fallen.

"He made the right choice by sending you away. If Orochimaru had gotten serious, you wouldn't have survived."

Blue eyes lightened up in the dark as he turned to look at them. "The most important thing we have to do now is to go back to place where the fight is, for all we know they're still fighting. If not, there are sure to be some clues there as to where Orochimaru has taken him."

"Why don't you use the hirashin? You've marked him, right?"

"It's a good suggestion, but too risky, don't forget that we're dealing with one of the sannin. If I use the hirashin we might be playing right in his hands, especially since this is Orochimaru we're talking about."

Obito slumped his head a bit and frowned. "I wonder what Akio would do in a situation like this."

A silence filled the air until a soft chuckle broke it. "Well I certainly wouldn't stand around moping all day."

All heads shot up and turned, only to give their newcomer a shocked look. Akio gave them a faint smile and brought his hand up to his wounded arm while giving a silent nod to Mayu. The fox bowed her head ones and disappeared without saying a thing.

Rin was the first to become from the shock as she noticed the blood trickling between the teen's fingers. Without saying a word she ran to him and tear a piece of her skirt. Slowly she pushed his hand out of the way and began to bind the wound with the piece of clothing as gently as she could. Akio flinched slightly as the kunoichi tied it up and she froze, one of her hands still lingered on the now bandaged wound, her other fell down by her side.

The raven haired teen didn't know what to say. Was she mad at him? Her head was slumped down and her bangs covered her eyes in shadows. He was just about to lay a hand on her shoulder when he felt something wet falling on his arm.

"You baka.."

She rose her head and now Akio clearly saw the tears running down her face, but the thing that shocked him the most was the smile on the brunettes face. She was crying, but for some reason she was smiling too. Noticing his shocked gaze the kunoichi began to furiously wipe her tears away and gave him another smile. "I'm so glad you're okay."

Green eyes widened when it finally got through to him. She was smiling because he was okay, he'd come back, alive. He narrowed his eyes as a wave of sadness hit him. "Why? Why are you crying for my sake?"

For a couple of seconds Rin stared at him like he grown two heads, but then she remembered what Minato had told her.

_"Sensei, why is Akio being so distant all the time?"_

_"All the people he ever cared about have died. I think he's trying to protect himself by trying not to get to close, but that's not an easy task and it might be hard for him to accept that we'll keep getting closer to him every day we spent with each other."_

_"But that's horrible, can't we help him somehow?"_

_"There's nothing we can do except do our best to befriend him, in time he will realize that we want to be with him and aren't afraid of getting to close. We just have to have faith in him, I'm sure he'll come around someday."_

That had been the first week since they're meeting with the raven haired teen. Days passed and she had noticed a change. He began to open up to her and her teammates, they'd spent a lot of time together and she got the feeling that he understood her completely. She'd thought the same about him, she thought that she'd finally understood what he was going through. But seeing him now, looking at her that way, told her she'd never been more wrong. After all this time, he was still keeping his distance, still being a stranger to her.

A sad smile broke through and she took a step back as she looked him in the eyes. "Because we're friends."

The small sentence echoed in his head and he closed his eyes with a sigh. This was exactly what he'd been afraid of. Without realizing they'd become this close, only making it harder for him to stay on his path. But the last thing he wanted was distancing himself again.

Would they be able to let him go when the time came?

* * *

><p>This was it for now, I hope you liked it!<p>

I have one thing to ask, should I pair someone with Naruto?

These are the options:

Naruto - Sakura

Naruto - Hinata

Naruto - Rin

Naruto - A new girl he meets in this timeline

Naruto - Nobody

Please review your choice! Or of course if you think you have better options!


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